All posts by n8rngtd.top

Chase goes down to the final over but New Zealander keeps Gloucestershire at bay

David Hopps01-Jul-2021Gloucestershire’s 161 for 7 represented a workable total on a nibbly pitch in the West Country derby at Bristol, but in Devon Conway they came up against a batter who relishes the chance to put in a serious shift. Conway’s unbeaten 81 from 65 balls would not make much of a gaudy highlights reel, but his sensible shot selection and judicious tempo never wavered as he guided Somerset home with four balls to spare.An eight-wicket margin it might have been, but Somerset’s first T20 win at Bristol since 2015 did not come easily. After Lewis Gregory’s career-best 5-24 in limited-overs cricket had prepared the groundwork, a controlled chase could easily have run awry, only for Gloucestershire to miss one or two opportunities to turn the tide.Regrettably, because he is having a tough time of late, the most glaring miss befell James Bracey, who palmed an edge from Conway, on 8, around the post during an eventful first over against Dan Worrall.Conway, who first came to prominence for many English viewers with his double-century for New Zealand in this summer’s Test against England at Lord’s, now has three successive half-centuries in the Blast. This one was sorely needed considering the withdrawal of Tom Banton, whose first flash of form was enough for him to be called up to the England squad to cover for someone who is covering for someone, which the counties have long learned to shrug off as just another example of England’s hegemony, but which could occasionally be imposed with more sensitivity towards the bigger picture.Somerset now join Gloucestershire in the top four and, although they are depleted, the force is with them, especially as Sussex are fast losing impetus after a series of washed-out matches destroyed their early-season momentum.Conway committed himself to a high-risk start and, although Banton’s stand-in, George Bartlett fell for nought, chasing David Payne’s wide half-volley, Will Smeed again underlined his potential with 36 from 23 balls, never better highlighted than by his fast-handed whip off Benny Howell’s length ball over deep square for six.But Tom Smith, who had come close to defeating Conway on the sweep, had Smeed lbw instead and Somerset were still 60 short with seven overs left as Lewis Goldsworthy, although admirably unwavering for someone at the start of his career, struggled to get his innings above a run a ball for a considerable time. Conway’s ability to manoeuvre the ball into the gaps kept Somerset just ahead of the game, although one sneaked single to regain the strike might have resulted in Bracey running him out at the keeper’s end.Lewis Gregory punches the air in celebration•Harry Trump/Getty Images

Ryan Higgins’ did not appear until the 18th over with 24 still needed and Goldsworthy was fortunate to under-edge his yorker for four. That moment of luck eased the chase and when Goldsworthy rounded off the win with successive boundaries against Higgins, he finished with 43 not out from 28 balls, misleading stats which suggested there had been nothing to worry about.Gregory has not had the most productive Blast campaign – only seven wickets and an economy rate of 10.63 – but he chose the West Country derby to address that, ensuring that Gloucestershire’s innings never quite broke the shackles despite Howell’s out-of-character, cautious half-century and a best-of-season 44 up top from Miles Hammond.Hammond was assisted by a collision in the opening over when he top-edged Craig Overton to fine leg where Jack Brooks and Conway, fulfilling the wicketkeeping role, tanked off in pursuit only to smash into each other in their efforts to take the catch.Conway helped him along again on 35, a relatively easy stumping eschewed as Goldsworthy drew Hammond down the pitch. Somerset regard their best keeper, Steve Davies, as a Championship specialist these days, preferring to set loose their exciting array of youthful young batting talent, but such is their injury list he appears to have been disposed off too readily.Gregory’s first victim was Chris Dent, who cut to short third in his second over. He returned in mid-innings after Hammond was beaten for pace by a full-length delivery from Marchant de Lange, who had come close to yorking him leg stump when he had made room to the previous delivery.That 13th over proved decisive. Gloucestershire supporters have become used to the destructive qualities in their middle order of Glenn Phillips, but he fell to a wonderful delivery which left him slightly to strike his off stump. Two balls later, Bracey followed, a botched pull flying vertically for Conway to pouch the catch. Since his 0, 0 and 8, in his first two Tests, and the fierce attention that understandably followed to his batting and keeping alike, he has made 1 and 2 in the Blast and needs a slice of fortune.That Gloucestershire reached a competitive score was due primarily to some rustic leg-side scythes from their skipper, Jack Taylor. Howell, who had much less than half the strike, found room for three sixes in his 41-ball 52, but they were rare moments of domination, and Gregory’s low full toss dismissed him at long-off before Smith’s first-baller completed his five-for.

India captain wants to use Jadeja “a lot more with the bat”, citing example of his promotion in the T20I series

Andrew Fidel Fernando06-Mar-20225:44

Rohit: Jadeja just ups his game every time we see him

R Ashwin is an “all-time great”. Ravindra Jadeja is one of the “top allrounders”. This is what captain Rohit Sharma had to say about India’s two most consistent match-winners at home, after they took 15 wickets between them in the innings-and-222-run victory over Sri Lanka in the first Test in Mohali.In the second innings, in which Ashwin took four wickets, he surpassed the tally of Kapil Dev, finishing with 436 Test wickets to Kapil’s 434. This makes Ashwin the second-highest wicket-taker for India, only behind Anil Kumble.”To me, he is already an all-time great,” Rohit said of Ashwin. “He has been playing cricket for the country for so many years, his performances have been so good over the years. He has given many match-winning performances.”Related

• Injury-hit Sri Lanka run into pink ball and red-hot India

• Stats: Jadeja continues love affair with Mohali; Ashwin past Kapil

• Jadeja's epic all-round show gives India win inside three days

• Dear India, enough is enough, this is no longer funny, please stop

Jadeja, meanwhile, was easily the most impressive cricketer in a one-sided match, hitting 175 not out in the first innings, before grabbing 5 for 41 and 4 for 46, as Sri Lanka batted twice in succession. It was Jadeja’s highest score in Test cricket by a distance. His batting average, which has been on a linear incline since 2017, has also never been higher than 36.46, where he currently sits after that knock.”To me, he is one of the top allrounders,” Rohit said while heaping praise on Jadeja. “Look at the performances: to score 175 not out and take nine wickets in the game, he’s just upping his game every time we see him. He’s very hungry, as you can see. That hunger is something that drives athletes to move forward. When I talk to him about certain things, he is very open-minded. He wants to take the responsibility, he wants to take the challenge.”The example was there in the T20 series against Sri Lanka. I just casually asked him if he would want to bat up the order, and he was open for it. This is why we asked him to go up in the first T20.”As a captain, I want to use Jadeja a lot more with the bat. We all know his bowling. Everyone knows about his fielding. He brings so much balance to the team as well.”India’s lower order also scored heavily in the Mohali Test. At one stage, they were 228 for 5, in seeming danger of being dismissed for less than 300. However, for the loss of only three further wickets, the hosts added a whopping 346, thanks largely to Jadeja. Ashwin also scored 61, and Mohammed Shami contributed an unbeaten 20.”It’s very, very crucial in Test matches – the lower order coming to the party,” Rohit said. “I clearly remember back in 2015 when Virat [Kohli] took over as captain, we wanted to create a strong lower-order contribution and a strong foundation for that.”This is why we kept emphasising how important it is for all the bowlers to go out and bat in the nets; try and improve one or the other skill. If possible, go put that contribution out.”

Murray Goodwin showed he has lost none of his appetite for runs in his 41st year but the veteran was upstaged by Chris Cooke, 13 years his junior, as Glamorgan responded cautiously to Hampshire’s first-innings total of 349

03-Aug-2013
ScorecardChris Cooke made his highest first-class score for Glamorgan•Getty Images

Murray Goodwin showed he has lost none of his appetite for runs in his 41st year but the veteran was upstaged by Chris Cooke, 13 years his junior, as Glamorgan responded cautiously to Hampshire’s first-innings total of 349.At the close of the second day at Southampton, after Goodwin had laboured more than three hours for his 51, Cooke had recorded his first half-century and was unbeaten on 73. Glamorgan ended 123 behind on 226 for 4 from 67 overs, with South African-born Cooke having so far hit 14 fours in a stay of 103 balls.Hampshire were 261 for 6 overnight and added a further 88, with pace bowler John Glover taking two of the four wickets to fall in the morning session. James Vince, 51 not out, added another 10 runs before Graham Wagg found the edge and captain Mark Wallace took his fifth catch of the innings. Adam Wheater followed at 305 when Glover had him caught by William Bragg, and Glover struck again at 322 when he broke through Sohail Tanvir’s defences.Chris Wood hit a robust unbeaten 32, including a six off Dean Cosker, but the experienced spinner ended the innings when last-man David Griffiths edged him to Marcus North at slip.Glamorgan did not make the most promising of starts, Tanvir bowling Bragg for 12 before Griffiths removed Bragg’s opening partner Gareth Rees on 45, knocking back his off stump. Glamorgan’s hopes rested on North and Goodwin, their most tested batsmen, and they responded on a wicket easing all the time with a stand of 70 for the third wicket in 24 overs.North went at 115, bowled by a sharp delivery from left-arm pacer Wood after making 36, but Goodwin dug in. With Cooke, Goodwin added another 55 important runs to blunt the Hampshire attack in the afternoon session.But after facing 120 balls and hitting seven fours, it was almost a surprise when the obdurate Goodwin, in sight of his 23,000th first class run, was leg before to spin bowler Danny Briggs with an indeterminate shot. That did not stop Cooke, whose previous best first class score was 44, and with Jim Allenby for company, the fifth-wicket pair added 56 in the evening
sunshine. Allenby went in 15 not out while Cooke’s innings has so far occupied 103 balls and included 14 fours.

Ajmal Shahzad bowled with pace and aggression to check Sussex’s progress after half-centuries from Luke Wells and Ed Joyce

Paul Edwards at Aigburth01-Jun-2013
ScorecardAlex Gidman was the chief resistance for Gloucestershire on day four•PA Photos

A match which had never lacked interest throughout its four days had a fitting conclusion when Gloucestershire’s No. 11 Liam Norwell played Andrea Agathangelou’s final delivery of the game safely to gully to secure a draw against Lancashire.That outcome will have cheered Michel Klinger’s men, some of whom had defied Lancashire’s six-man attack with outstanding technical skill, but it was, of course, a colossal frustration for Glen Chapple and his team, who probably thought that Aigburth was going to supply them with another victory that would shred the nerves before lifting the heart.But when they review this match the Lancashire hierarchy will assess their decision to bat on for 6.3 overs at the start of the day add 31 runs to their overnight score and extend their lead to 358. Gloucestershire’s batsmen never appeared remotely interested in chasing this target down but the same may not have been quite so true of the overnight lead of 327.Batting a side out of the game has become the norm for many teams these days in preference to setting a tempting target and invites a more attacking strategy. For spectators and players this diminution of cricket’s tactical nuances is a great shame. Many Lancashire supporters were hoping their team would declare overnight; many others were bemoaning the decision not have done so when Gloucestershire’s last pair survived. It was difficult to supply an effective counter-argument. Sometimes you really do have to run a slight risk of losing a match in order to give yourselves the best chance of winning it. It’s an old song but it’s still a good ‘un.None of which sermonising should detract from the enthralling sport which both sides provided for the Liverpool public. No Gloucestershire batsman scored a half-century and no Lancashire bowler took more than two wickets and this was strangely appropriate too: these four days have been more about collective effort than individual brilliance.Nevertheless, the major contributors to Gloucestershire’s resistance on the last day of this match were Alex Gidman, who made 46 before becoming Agathangelou’s first Championship victim when he played back to the offspinner’s quicker ball, and Hamish Marshall, who faced 206 balls for his technically accomplished 44.Agathangelou was to claim the ninth wicket, that of Graeme McCarter, in addition to taking the catches at short leg and slip that disposed of Michael Klinger and Craig Miles. Agathangelou , a South African-born Cypriot, is rapidly turning into a mighty useful first-team cricketer.All the same, in the middle portion of the innings, Lancashire’s bowlers never took wickets with the sort of rapidity required if they were to win the game. Kyle Hogg removed both Chris Dent and Dan Housego and Simon Kerrigan claimed the key wicket of Klinger to leave Gloucestershire 60 for 3 just after lunch but Gidman and Marshall’s fourth-wicket stand of 54 occupied 29 vital overs. Marshall then found Benny Howell an equally obdurate partner until Kerrigan trapped Howell lbw for 17 to begin a period of play which saw four wickets fall in twelve overs and the refrain of “Oh Lanky, Lanky” echo around the ground.In the event it wasn’t quite enough. Ed Young defied a wrist-injury to come out and bat 6.1 overs with Graeme McCarter, this after Marshall had been dismissing fending Wayne White to Ashwell Prince. White even hit McCarter on the head but he held out until the penultimate ball of the 99th and last over of the innings. Norwell then needed to show a bit of nerve in facing the last delivery. He did so, and Gloucestershire survived. What’s more, no one could really begrudge them their draw.

England star’s quarantine period means she will miss London derby against Oval on Sunday

George Dobell23-Jul-2021Tammy Beaumont was a surprise absentee for London Spirit as they started their Hundred campaign with a match against Birmingham Phoenix at Edgbaston.Beaumont, the England top-order batter who is anticipated to be one of the star players of the competition, had been given permission to attend a family wedding. She will also miss Spirit’s second match, the London Derby against Oval Invincibles, on Sunday.It is understood the wedding of her brother took place on Wednesday but the need to observe Covid protocols has obliged Beaumont to observe a quarantine period before joining up with the rest of the squad.While the timing is unfortunate – this is the first double-header of the tournament – the ECB are keen to ensure the long-term welfare of their top players. Many of them have spent an extended amount of time in ‘bubbles’ over the last year and there is the prospect of plenty more to come.Equally, they are keen to avoid a situation where an entire squad could be ruled out by one positive test and a requirement for others to self-isolate.”Tammy Beaumont was given permission to attend a family wedding and is therefore unavailable for London Spirit’s first two games as she follows the COVID-19 testing protocol before re-entering the team environment,” the ECB said in a statement. “We recognise that safe living asks a lot of our players, and with their wellbeing at the front of our minds it’s right that we support them.”Readers of a certain age may recall Tony Pigott missing his own wedding – well, postponing it – when he was called up for England’s Test team while in New Zealand in early 1984. New Zealand won by an innings and Pigott was never called up again.London Spirit had better news with the availability of Deandra Dottin. The Barbadian only arrived in the UK from Antigua (which is on the Green List) earlier this week and, having undergone two negative PCR tests, was introduced to her team-mates over Zoom on Thursday evening and joined up with them shortly before the game.

Punam Raut and Lara Goodall also gain in the rankings after impressive performances

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Mar-20211:09

Wolvaardt – ‘To have the No. 1 batter in our side is absolutely amazing’

Lizelle Lee, the South Africa opening batter, has had a stellar run in the ongoing ODI series against India, and that has led to a steep rise in the women’s ODI rankings, where she is now the top batter, relegating England’s Tammy Beaumont to No. 2. Last week, after scoring 83* in the series opener, Lee had moved up from No. 11 to eighth, and since then, a run of 4, 132* and 69 has seen her zoom through even as South Africa have taken a winning 3-1 lead in the series.Lee, the only South African ever to top that table, had earlier been the best in the world in June 2018 after scoring 92* and 117 against England, though South Africa had lost that series 2-1.Though India have fallen short in three of the matches, their top-order batter Punam Raut has had a very good run, totalling 253 runs from four innings so far compared to Lee’s 288. Like Lee, she has also scored two half-centuries and a century, and that has led to a rise of eight spots to 18th. She is fourth-best Indian in the list after Smriti Mandhana (seventh), Mithali Raj (ninth) and Harmanpreet Kaur (15th).ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Among the other premier performers in the four matches so far in Lucknow, South Africa’s Lara Goodall (49 and 59* in the second and fourth games) has gained 27 places to reach the 48th position.Chasing teams have won all four games so far – South Africa won the third game on the DLS method while chasing – and that has been because of some impressive bowling performances, especially in the morning. Jhulan Goswami, with eight wickets in three games, is top of that chart, with Shabnim Ismail one behind after four games, followed by Rajeshwari Gayakwad with five wickets.That has meant a rise to No. 3, behind the Australian pair of Jess Jonassen and Megan Schutt for Ismail, while Goswami has held on to her fifth place, while Gayakwad has gained four slots to No. 18.The final game of the series will be played on Wednesday.

Steven Smith is expected to be fit for the upcoming Australia A series in England despite suffering a back injury that has forced his withdrawal from the remainder of the IPL

ESPNcricinfo staff09-May-2013Steven Smith is expected to be fit for the upcoming Australia A series in England despite suffering a back injury that has forced his withdrawal from the remainder of the IPL.Cricket Australia on Thursday confirmed that Smith was returning home from India due to the issue with his lower back, which was likely to make him unavailable for any more matches with Pune Warriors. However, his role as vice-captain to Brad Haddin for the Australia A games, which begin on June 7, is not expected to be in doubt.”While the injury is minor, Pune respected Smith’s upcoming playing commitments and advised it was best for him to return to Australia for treatment,” Cricket Australia said in a statement. “CA expects Smith to be fully fit for his upcoming commitments with Australia A, where he will be vice-captain.”Smith missed out on a place in Australia’s Ashes squad despite being one of the strongest performers with the bat on the recent Test tour of India, where his footwork against the spinners put him second only to captain Michael Clarke on Australia’s batting averages.He has also topped the average for Pune Warriors so far in their IPL campaign with 159* runs at 39.75.*07.45GMT, May 9: The article had incorrectly stated Smith aggregated 161 in IPL 2013

Tim Bresnan has Alastair Cook in his sights over the next two days at Lord’s as he attempts to secure a recall for the opening Test against New Zealand.

Andrew McGlashan13-May-2013Tim Bresnan has Alastair Cook in his sights over the next two days at Lord’s as he attempts to secure a recall for the opening Test against New Zealand. The England captain could be in for an uncomfortable time.Cook briefly netted against James Anderson and Stuart Broad on Monday but practice will go up in intensity on Tuesday with Bresnan keen to show that he is worth a starting place after recovering from the elbow problem that hampered him for much of the previous year.”I would not be surprised if the net rota goes up and I’m bowling at him,” Bresnan said. “I think that is one of the things Andy Flower likes to do.”He has taken 13 County Championship wickets at 27.07 for Yorkshire this season and believes he is back “as good as ever” after having a piece of bone removed from his right elbow. But he is still expected to be the 12th man when the coin goes up and that is something he is desperate to change over the next few days.”I am not here to carry the drinks,” he said. “I am here to play the game and throw my hat in the ring for selection. I think the next two days will tell the management and Cooky a lot about where I am at and what I can do.”I probably lost three or four yards of pace to be honest. I feel I have got that back. I can sit here and say whatever but it is just as easy to show everyone. I can spin a yarn and say it is all brilliant or I can just get on the park and show you what my pace is like. I have not been in front of a speed gun but it feels alright.”Bresnan has actually only missed England’s most recent three Tests having previously played in Nagpur. But at the conclusion of that match, where he went wicketless for the second time in the India series, he had taken two wickets at 210 in his last four outings dating back to the start of the South Africa series.Tim Bresnan is hoping his early-season form for Yorkshire counts in his favour ahead of the first Test•Getty Images

His last telling contribution with the red ball – his one-day form had not quite suffered in the same way, with 10 overs proving more manageable – had been against West Indies, at Trent Bridge, where he took the Man-of-the-Match award for eight wickets. At that point in his career he had 52 wickets at 25.46 and his 13 Tests had all been England victories.But for him to plot a route back into the Test team for the first match of the season he will need to get past Steven Finn, who took six wickets in his last outing in Auckland, although those figures flattered him. Finn has not been at his best for Middlesex this season with seven wickets at 39.57 in three matches, which is one more appearance than either Broad or Anderson after the ECB made Finn available against Warwickshire.Just as these next few days are important for Bresnan, they are equally so for Finn. His Test record – 80 wickets at 29.60 – is far from poor, but he has yet to completely convince that he has found his stride. The work on his run-up has played a part and he was back to the longer version at Edgbaston last week, suggesting the switch has not gone entirely to plan.In Finn’s favour, when it comes to a head-to-head with Bresnan, is an impressive record at Lord’s (his home ground) where he has taken 25 wickets at 21.44 in four Tests. That included his maiden five-wicket haul against Bangladesh in 2010 and eight wickets in the match against South Africa last year in what was his most consistent Test appearance. Bresnan, by contrast, has five wickets at 66.00 from his three appearances at Lord’s.Yet, the fact that Bresnan is already back in the Test reckoning is a credit to his hard work which included a spell at the National Sports Centre at Bisham Abbey. Bresnan admitted he was not “deep thinker” about life, but conceded to a few uneasy thoughts before he had the operation after the one-day series in India.”A couple of hours before the operation you think this could go one or two ways,” he said. “I might never play for England or cricket again or I might be back better than ever. You have to weigh up that risk and then decide yes, put in the effort and get on with it again.”So far, that effort has been worth every hour of rehab and painful gym sessions. Now he aims to make life tough for a few of his team-mates.

Glenn Maxwell might be the very model of the modern cricketer, raised on Twenty20 and thriving on the short format’s fast pace, but he insists he has the patience to make it as a Test cricketer as well

Brydon Coverdale02-Feb-2013Glenn Maxwell might be the very model of the modern cricketer, raised on Twenty20 and thriving on the short format’s fast pace, but he insists he has the patience to make it as a Test cricketer as well. On Thursday, Maxwell was named as the main spinning allrounder in Australia’s Test squad to tour India, meaning he is likely to earn a baggy green on the trip, and the following day he crunched an unbeaten 51 from 35 balls in Australia’s one-day annihilation of West Indies.Promoted to open the batting Maxwell scored nearly three-quarters of Australia’s runs in their tiny chase of 71, racing to the target within the first ten overs. Maxwell’s brisk scoring is nothing new to those who have watched him at domestic level over the past few seasons, but he has also managed to average 42 at first-class level and believes his technique can stand up to the challenges of the five-day game.”I feel like I’m definitely a genuine batsman,” Maxwell said in Perth ahead of Sunday’s second ODI. “I’ve done a lot of work on my technique over the last few years. [Victoria coach] Greg Shipperd has been a big believer in my technique and I feel that’s shone through in Shield cricket.”I’ve played some good Shield innings where I’ve played technically really good cricket. I’m hoping I can showcase that when the opportunity arises, but yesterday wasn’t really the time to do it. I’m sure if I get the chance to play Test cricket I’ll probably be a bit more reserved.”Maxwell has spent some time in India in the past, visiting the country in 2010 for a training camp as part of the Centre of Excellence intake, and enjoying a short stint with the Delhi Daredevils in last year’s IPL. He said his plan, if he was given the opportunity in Test cricket on the upcoming tour, would be straightforward.”I’ve thought about how I’m going to be playing spinners over there,” he said. “I’ve been lucky enough to play over there a little bit, I had the Academy a couple of years ago and had the IPL experience last year. I know my game plan over there is going to be pretty simple, using my feet against the spinners and hopefully that will hold me in good stead.”Although Maxwell is considered a batting allrounder, his offspin has developed over the past few months and the selectors would expect significant overs from him if he was slotting into the Test outfit. Maxwell said he had worked with Shane Warne this summer on the mental side of spin bowling, as well as Ray Bright and Shawn Flegler, and he was confident that the sharp turn expected on the Indian pitches would allow him greater margin for error.”With the wickets and the way they spin, you can bowl a lot faster over there and really use your pace variations to your advantage,” Maxwell said. “In Australia you’ve got to be a lot more accurate, a lot more consistent in a certain area, where India allows you a lot more margin for error just because of the way it spins.”

South Africa coach lauds his team for playing “the pressure moments pretty well”

Firdose Moonda14-Jan-2022For Mark Boucher, the toughest thing about watching South Africa’s chase against India was that there was nothing he could do about it.”As a player, you feel like the buck can stop with you. As a coach, your hands are tied behind your back. You haven’t got the chance to go out there and change the state of the game,” he said afterwards. “From a nerves perspective, it was up there with one of my more nervous days.”Though South Africa have previously chased 236 at this ground (and it remains their highest successful here), that was a decade ago and Boucher was in that XI. He spent that innings while Graeme Smith, currently director of cricket, and Hashim Amla, who is now doing commentary, batted South Africa to a memorable win. This time, South Africa needed 24 fewer runs but did not have players of the experience of Smith and Amla in their line-up, so Boucher was careful with how much he believed.”When you’re in the batting change-room, the runs always seem a mile away. When you’re in the fielding change-room, you always feel like there is never quite enough. So it was trying to find a bit of a balance,” he said. “We knew the conditions were going to be really tough.”Related

• Stats – South Africa first team to win a three-match Test series without scoring 250

• Elgar on DRS drama: 'India forgot about the game and that played into our hands'

• South Africa seal come-from-behind series win as India fall apart

• Elgar: We were thrown under the sword and responded brilliantly

• Petersen the hero of South Africa's iconic home victory

South Africa’s inexperienced line-up were against the best Indian pace attack that has ever visited these shores on a surface with uneven bounce, but their hope was that the weather and the opposition bowlers’ workload in the series so far would help cause them to wilt. “It was really hot outside. We knew that the amount they bowled in the first innings (76.3 overs) would eventually play it’s part so getting through the first hour unscathed was very important. It just settles the change-room,” Boucher said.Keegan Petersen and Rassie van der Dussen put on 47 runs in the first hour and though they looked like they might be dismissed at any moment, they weren’t. “I liked the intensity the guys batted with. We went out saying we’ve got to look to score,” Boucher said.He was particularly impressed with Petersen’s performance, which ended with a career-best 82 and earned him the Player of the Match and Player of the Series awards. “Keegan probably didn’t start off as well as what he would have liked in West Indies. He didn’t start too well at SuperSport Park but he has always shown signs of the player we’re seeing right now,” Boucher said. “He just stuck to his guns.”He is in a good position to have a guy like Dean [Elgar] next to him, who really does back him and he is a tough nut. Batting at No. 3, you’ve got to be tough, you’ve got to know your game, you’ve got to be technically sound. It’s a very tough position to play in, in South Africa, in our conditions, batting at No. 3. The way he has come through in this series, I am lost for words. In a big series like this, against big players, to be man of the series is fully deserved.”Petersen did not bat South Africa over the line, though. That was left to van der Dussen and Temba Bavuma, who finished on 41 and 32 not out respectively. Bavuma was also at the crease when South Africa completed their chase at the Wanderers and even though he has still not added to his century-count, he has proved himself to have the temperament to take responsibility when its needed and is one-half of the leadership duo that is shaping the new-look South Africa.”We’ve got Dean who led from the front. We’ve got Temba as the vice-captain, who is the same sort of fighter with the same spirit. When you’ve got two leaders like that, the guys are going to follow,” Boucher said. “Both of them stood up with regards to their own games. If you’ve got the fighters as leaders and they are prepared to show it with bat or ball, it’s probably going to be the character of the team.”Asked if this series win represents a turning in the very long corner of losses, Boucher left it for all of us to decide. “It’s up to you guys to make that call whether we’ve turned the corner. I believe we turned a corner quite a while ago. Our results have been pretty solid over the last six months to a year,” he said. “We are in a good space at the moment. Our feet are firmly on the ground.”We are by no means the finished product, but we’ll enjoy this win. This team is on their own mission. If people want to jump on the back of that, that’s great and that will be much appreciated. We’ve been through some tough times of late. The team is driven in a way that is pretty special. It’s a special change-room to be in. I am incredibly proud of where they’ve come from over a short period of time and the results are starting to come through, which is fantastic for everyone.”Specifically, the way South Africa are approaching big moments has Boucher feeling as though he may not get the urge to go out there and change the state of the game himself again. “We played the pressure moments pretty well. We are not winning all of them but when we were losing a session, we were not losing it badly and that keeps us in the game. When we lost that first session in the first Test, we lost it so badly, we couldn’t get back into the game. Although we did try very hard, we probably lost too much in one session. Now, our guys are playing good pressure cricket at the moment.”