SA find their feet in Nagpur

It was mission accomplished for Smith & Co with almost everything going to plan for the South Africans during their practice game in Nagpur.

It came just around 40 minutes into the days play. An Abhimanyu Mithun delivery pitched on a good length and moved ever so slightly away from the left-handers off-stump but it managed to get the edge of Graeme Smiths bat.

Though the South African skippers early departure brought a lot of joy to the young fast bowler and the rest of his Board Presidents XI team mates,it was a blip on what proved to be an otherwise satisfactory outing for the visitors. Not only did almost all their batsmen spend valuable time in the middle,they also seemed to be in little discomfort against both pace and spin. In the end,it was mission accomplished for Smith & Co with almost everything going to plan for the South Africans during their two-day practice game at the VCA Ground in Nagpur.

By the time the Proteas were all out for 354 on Wednesday Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla retired after scoring half-centuries all their established batsmen,with the exception of Mark Boucher,had recorded 20+ scores,spent at least 50 minutes at the crease and,for the benefit of the sparsely crowd,displayed all their trademark shots.

Even Smith,who lasted only seven overs on Wednesday,seemed in complete control during his 60-ball 45 as he pulled,cut and drove in customary fashion.

The four Indian pacemen on show tried to replicate,or at least follow,the precedent set by their South African counterparts a day earlier,bowling a number of short-pitched deliveries. But not only did they fail to produce any meaningful impact on the opposition batsmen,they were dispatched to the square-leg and point boundaries on a regular basis.

Fresh from a heavy-scoring outing against England at home,Kallis was the most forceful of the lot with a 58-ball 63,during which he was especially dismissive of the two spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Piyush Chawla. Anything short was cut or pulled away,while the most accomplished of the South African batsmen also chipped down the wicket and hit Chawla for a couple of straight sixes. Amla,who top-scored with a 122-ball 72,on the other-hand looked the most composed,dealing with both fast bowlers and spinners with wristy flicks and drives.

Having struggled against the Englishmen back home,recording averages of 13.85 and 16.28 respectively,it was the pair of Ashwell Prince and JP Duminy who would have looked forward to their batting stints most during the only practice game before the Test series commences. And while both left-handers did occupy the crease for decent periods,there were a few notes of caution for the South Africans going into the first Test on Saturday.

Story continues below this ad

While Prince looked at complete ease against the likes of Mithun,Vinay Kumar and Manpreet Singh Gony,he was trapped lbw while sweeping a full delivery from Ashwin. Incidentally,on the few occasions that the 32-year-old Prince did see off the new-ball against England,he fell victim to the off-spin of Graeme Swann soon after.

Duminy,meanwhile,was his positive self against the spinners but overdid the sweep against Chawla,who finished with four for 88. Kepler Wessels,South Africas batting consultant,seemed pleased with Duminys 47-ball 39 and especially his performance against the spinners,and insisted that his form would be a crucial factor during the Test series. I thought he looked comfortable and confident against the spinners. It was an important knock for him as he will be invariably facing spinners whenever he comes into bat during the Test matches, said the former South African captain.

Having being named Man of the Series against England and with the experience of numerous previous outings in India,it is unlikely that Boucher would have been bothered too much after getting stumped off Ashwin while attempting an almighty hoick.

Scoreboard

Board Presidents XI 318

South Africans: A Prince lbw b Ashwin 42,G Smith c Patel b Mithun 45,H Amla retired hurt 72,J Kallis retired hurt 63,AB de Villiers b Chawla 27,JP Duminy lbw b Chawla 39,M Boucher st Patel b Ashwin 5,J Botha c Yadav b Chawla 16,W Parnell c Mukund b Chawla 4,D Steyn c Vinay Kumar b Ashwin 27,M Morkel not out 6; Extras: (b 1,lb 4,nb 3) 8; Total: (all out; 82 overs) 354; FoW: 1-52 (Smith,20.6),2-115 (Prince,37.3),2-212 (Kallis,retired),2-236 (Amla,retired),3-283 (de Villiers,68.4),4-300 (Boucher,73.5),5-300 (Duminy,74.2),6-312 (Parnell,76.4),7-323 (Botha,78.2),8-354 (Steyn,81.6); Bowling: Vinay Kumar 13-3-33-0,A Mithun 15-2-56-1,R Ashwin 18-0-96-3,P Chawla 18-2-88-4,MS Gony 9-1-29-0,U Yadav 7-1-42-0,A Nayar 2-0-5-0