At around 12:55 pm the power at St Georges and surrounding area went off and I still had to get to the grounds to watch the Proteas take on India in the fourth ODI. So, a journey that normally takes 5 minutes by car turned into a nightmare 40 minutes as at robot after robot the citizens of Port Elizabeth demonstrated their complete stupidity – well done guys, for the millionth time; “The damn robots turn into FOUR Way stop streets, not one way traffic as my middle finger mistakenly demonstrated to a number of you!”
Whoever would have though that the Manualmatic Scoreboard at St Georges would be brought into play as the cricket ground languished sans power from the start of the game right up until around 3:00 p.m.
South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first – the right decision as, according to this idiot, the pitch looked like it might be slow to start.
St Georges has never been kind to the Indians so most expressed the hope that this combination of a run of bad luck, slower pitch, Warriors local knowledge and a full house would carry the Proteas to victory.
The ‘experts’ reckoned that 225 to 230 runs in Port Elizabeth would be a very good total based on the conditions.
Amla and Smith were the opening partnership with Biff doing a bit of smiling during the game – obviously loving his work. They racked up a partnership of 57 – Smith on 18 and Amla on 36 – during which Amla streaked ahead to become the fastest batsman to 2000 runs in ODI cricket. This record had been held by Zaheer Abbas of Pakistan since 2 October 1983 when he reached 2000 runs after 45 overs. Amla reached his record after 40 overs.
South Africa closed off on 265 for 7 (take THAT ‘experts’) with the scoreboard looking like this:
- Hashim Amla – run out by Dhoni, bowler Kohli: 64 runs, 93 minutes, 69 balls, 8 fours, 0 sixes.
- Graeme Smith – caught by Harbhajan Singh, bowler Nehra: 18 runs, 51 minutes, 30 balls, 2 fours, 0 sixes.
- Morne van Wyk – caught Kohli, bowler Yuvraj Singh: 15 runs, 35 minutes, 22 balls, 1 fours, 0 sixes.
- AB de Villiers – caught Dhoni, bowler Yuvraj Singh: 3 runs, 9 minutes, 5 balls, 0 fours, 0 sixes.
- JP Duminy – not out: 71 runs, 124 minutes, 72 balls, 2 fours, 1 six.
- Faf du Plessis: run out by Dhoni, bowler Kohli: 1 runs, 5 minutes, 4 balls, 0 fours, 0 sixes.
- Johan Botha – stumped by Dhoni, bowler Yuvraj Singh: 44 runs, 59 minutes, 59 balls, 3 fours, 0 sixes.
- Robin Peterson – run out (Pathan/Harbhajan Singh) 31 runs, 39 minutes, 35 balls, 3 fours, 0 sixes.
- Dale Steyn – not out: 4 runs, 13 minutes, 6 balls, 0 fours, 0 sixes.
- Extras – 14
- Total – 265 (7 wickets, 50 overs in 218 mins): 5.30 runs per over.
Things didn’t start well for the Indian opening pair of Sharma and Patel as, at the end of the second over, India were reeling on 1 run for the loss of one wicket (Sharma walked with one run after being caught by Duminy off of the bowling of a firing Tsotsobe).
Only during the fourth over did things look like they were coming together for the embattled Indians as they dragged their score up to 15 for the loss of one.
The nail in the coffin came at the onset of the bowling powerplay which saw the Proteas drive the Required Run Rate up to over 6 runs and over and then to steadily increase from there. Eventually when the Required Run Rate was sitting at 7.10 and India at 131 for 6, needing 123 runs from 87 balls to win, some merciful respite presented itself in the form of welcome rain at around 8:50 pm.
The crowd thinned out and the die hards waited and waited until the covers were begun to be removed an hour later. Play eventually resumed at 10:10 pm. Only one over was played before the rain started again and the covers were hastily replaced.
At 10:40 pm the game was called off, Duckworth Lewis did their thing, and decided that South Africa won by 48 runs.
India innings (Rain reduced target: 191 runs from 32.5 overs):
- RG Sharma – caught by Duminy, bowler Tsotsobe: 1 runs, 6 minutes, 6 balls, 0 fours, 0 sixes.
- PA Patel – LBW by Tsotsobe: 11 runs, 39 minutes, 24 balls, 2 fours, 0 sixes.
- V Kohli – not out: 87 runs, 126 minutes, 92 balls, 7 fours, 2 sixes.
- Yuvraj Singh – caught by Smith, bowler Botha: 12 runs, 22 minutes, 20 balls, 1 fours, 1 six.
- SK Raina – stumped by de Villiers, bowler Peterson: 20 runs, 41 minutes, 36 balls, 0 fours, 0 sixes.
- MS Dhoni – caught by du Plessis, bowler Peterson: 2 runs, 9 minutes, 8 balls, 0 fours, 0 sixes.
- YK Pathan – caught by de Villiers, bowler Morkel: 2 runs, 4 minutes, 3 balls, 0 fours, 0 sixes.
- Harbhajan Singh – not out: 3 runs, 13 minutes, 8 balls, 0 fours, 0 sixes.
- Extras – 4
- Total – 142 (6 wickets, 32.5 overs in 133 mins): 4.32 runs per over.
And the lesson for the Proteas? If you are marginal with any visiting side pop down to St Georges Port Elizabeth – the support, pitch and local knowledge will pull you through time after time.
Alan Straton
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