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Fleming’s great
knock helps Black Caps crush SA on a dustbowl
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October 16, 2006 (Link to
Scorecard)
 The
Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai saw the batsmen
struggle yet again in this tournament as the
pitch turned out to be an anti-One Day
International wicket. The Kiwis had defeated
South Africa who struggled to chase what would
have been a moderate target on any other wicket
elsewhere. New Zealand won by a huge margin of
87 after posting an appropriate total of 195
after being put into bat first by Graeme Smith,
a decision which backfired totally. There was
plenty of deviation of the wicket for the
seamers and the spinners were not behind as they
got vicious turn and bounce. The wicket totally
deteriorated as the game went along with the
batsmen playing their shots early as the ball
gripped the surface.
Both the New Zealand and the South African
batsmen failed to make any impression on this
sluggish wicket with the exception of Skipper
Stephen Fleming. The left hander who had opened
the innings was the ninth wicket to go down for
the Kiwis after making 89 precious runs. New
Zealand had gone into this match without the
services of its two match winners Scott Styris
and Shane Bond. After a few hit outs from Lou
Vincent, New Zealand got their first casualty
with Vincent bowled through the gate by a big
inswinger from Shaun Pollock. Nathan Astle and
Stephen Fleming then consolidated to put up a
solid partnership but Astle paid the penalty for
charging down the track to Hall and getting
himself yorked to leave NZ at 74 for 2.
The wicket of Astle was a big one lost by the
Kiwis and the next batsmen were relatively
inexperienced in playing under these conditions
and South Africa were picking wickets at regular
intervals. A mini collapse was on the cards for
the Black Caps with Stephen Fleming watching
four wickets going down at the addition of just
25 runs. Stephen Fleming found a partner who
could stick for a while in the form of Brendon
McCullum and New Zealand looked good at putting
up a decent total. Robin Peterson the left arm
spinner was successful though in cutting short
the 6th wicket partnership to 36 as McCullum was
beaten in the flight to give a return catch to
the right of the left armer. McCullum
contributed 21 from 34 balls which happened to
be the second highest score of the innings. New
Zealand were bowled out for 195 with 26 more
deliveries left in the innings. Birthday boy,
Jacques Kallis who turned 31 today picked up
three wickets out of which two had come from
bouncers that got Fulton and Franklin out.
Kallis’s third one was Stephen Fleming who
played a clip shot straight to Shaun Pollock in
the deep.
When SA came onto chase the runs, Kyle Mills
brought New Zealand strongly back in the match
with a triple blow dismissing Dippenaar, Gibbs
and Kallis. Dippenaar was out in the first over
itself after he paid penalty for playing across
the line and getting lbw to one that angled in
and straightened. Gibbs was also out for a duck
like Dippenaar after he was bowled through the
gate and Kallis was caught and bowled
brilliantly as he tried to check his drive but
of no avail. Jacob Oram joined the party as well
making good use of the wicket with some smart
variations in the pace and he also provided a
triple strike leaving South Africa at 71 for 6
in the 23rd over. Graeme Smith who was looking
to be the only hope for the Proteas was one of
the three victims of Oram as he had failed in
clearing mid on in his attempted lofted shot.
Pollock was the third victim as he played his
drive early and with the ball stopping onto the
bat, it was a simple catch that spooned upto
covers. South Africa soon crashed out to 108
after 34.1 overs with off spinner Jeetan Patel
taking three wickets in his 3.1 overs. Vettori
chipped in with one wicket. Justin Kemp was
stranded on an unbeaten 26 and he had absolutely
no chance of taking his side to victory with so
many runs to get with hardly any wickets left
when he had come out to bat.
Stephen Fleming for his great innings in the
afternoon was declared as the Man of the Match.
Today’s match has shown that the batsmen need to
stay as long as possible in the middle and graft
the runs rather than going for the fancy shots.
The pitches on offer look unsettled and this
trend of low scores might continue as the
tournament progresses. The spinners are expected
to do the damage in each and every game and all
sides will be aware of that.
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