Tags:
Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, FEB 20: The South Africans were high on Hayward at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday. The 23-year-old speedster made a mockery of the Indian hopefuls as he dished out a superb exhibition of fast bowling. All the Board President’s XI batsmen relived the horrors faced by the Indian team during the Australian tour during his fiery spells.
His second spell was the most damaging when he claimed four wickets in 20 balls conceding four runs. It also included a snorter to Mohammed Azharuddin which ruled out the batsmen from the match. The former Indian skipper, while trying to fend the delivery, sustained a thumb injury.
Morntau Hayward was wayward too, bowling 11 no-balls. The Eastern Province lad, who made his Test debut against England this season, generated fair bounce from the track that left the President’s XI batsmen scurrying for cover.
Mohammed Kaif, the under-19 Indian skipper who led the team to victory in the youth World Cup recently, was given a fiery baptism to big-time cricket. Off the fourth delivery that he faced, Hayward struck Kaif on the helmet which cracked on the impact. The quick learner that he is, Kaif hung on bravely and was shaping up well when he chopped the same bowler on to his stumps.
Barring opener Wasim Jaffer (12), none of the other batsmen were confident against the South African pace bowlers. Allan Donald, who opened the attack intent on regaining his rhythm, did little to trouble the batsmen.
Later, Harbhajan Singh and tail-ender Amit Bhandari cocked a snook at the batsmen with a rollicking 49-run association off 44 balls for the ninth wicket which was also the highest of the innings. Harbhajan was particularly impressive while bracing up to the speedsters and showed better technique while facing the bouncers.
Both the tail-enders not only frustrated the opposition but also saved the team the ignominy of a follow-on. With Azhar ruled out to play, the innings terminated when Harbhajan gave a tame catch to left-arm spinner Clive Eksteen, who ended up with three wickets.
Harbhajan returned to torment the opposition and even claimed two wickets. However, the South Africans ended the day on 93-3 giving them a 214-run lead. Daryll Cullinan excused himself from the scene of action after making two runs to give the other batsmen in the side some batting practice.
SCOREBOARD
South Africa (1st innings): 293-6 decl
Board President’s XI (1st innings): J Arun Kumar b Hayward 9 (10b, 6m, 2×4), Wasim Jaffer lbw Klusener 12 (53b, 79m, 2×4), Mohd Kaif b Hayward 23 (74b, 112m, 5×4), Mohd Azharuddin retd hurt 9 (35b, 51m, 1×4), Ajay Jadeja c Boucher b Hayward 2 (18b, 18m), Nayan Mongia c Boucher b Donald 16 (38b, 59m, 3×4), Murali Karthik c Eksteen b Hayward 0 (7b, 9m), Thiru Kumaran c Cullinan b Eksteen 8 (14b, 19m, 1×4), Harbhajan Singh c&b Eksteen 38 (44b, 69m, 7×4), Debashis Mohanty c&b Eksteen 0 (10b, 14m), Amit Bhandari not out 30 (28b, 30m, 2×4, 2×6); Extras: (b4, lb10, nb11) 25. Total: (all out in 53.2 overs; 237 mins) 172
Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Arun, 1.4 overs), 2-46 (Jaffer, 17.3), 3-68 (Kaif, 26.3), 4-75 (Jadeja, 30.3), 5-75 (Karthik, 32.4), 6-96 (Kumaran, 37.1), 7-114 (Mongia, 42.4), 8-123 (Mohanty, 46), 9-172 (Harbhajan, 53.2)Bowling: Donald 11-3-27-1, Hayward 17-3-68-4 (11nb), Kallis 5-3-5-0, Klusener 5-3-7-1, Eksteen 15.2-6-51-3
South Africa (2nd innings): Gary Kirsten lbw b Mohanty 4 (12b, 10m, 1×4), Herschelle Gibbs lbw b Singh 28 (66b, 96m, 3×4), Jacques Kallis b Harbhajan 12 (30b, 46m, 1×4), Daryll Cullinan retd 2 (11b, 20m), Hansie Cronje batting 29 (61b, 65m, 5×4), Peiter Strydom batting 12 (36b, 47m, 1×4), Extras: (4b, 2lb) 6. Total: (for three wickets in 36 overs, 134 mins) 93
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Kirsten, 2.4), 2-30 (Kallis, 13), 3-59 (Gibbs, 22.2)
Bowling: Mohanty 5-2-7-1, Kumaran 6-0-19-0, Singh 10-1-31-2, Bhandari 9-5-16-0, Karthik 4-1-12-0, Kaif 2-1-2-0.
