South Africa gets the points in rain-affected encounter
By Roger Persaud
Stabroek News
April 4, 2007
South Africa, led by an unbeaten 66 from Jacques Kallis, cruised to a seven-wicket victory over Ireland in their "Super Eight" match of the ICC CWC 2007 Cricket World Cup competition at the National Stadium at Providence yesterday.
Ireland, inserted to bat after losing the toss, scored 152-8 in the game which was reduced to 35-overs-a-side following three interruptions for rain.
South Africa responded by scoring the revised Duck-worth/ Lewis score of 165-3 in 31.3 overs.
The Irish were more victims of the rain than their opponents as their innings was interrupted twice and when the overs were reduced after the second resumption, they paid the price for their cautious start.
The spanking new stadium demonstrated its excellent drainage capacity when a heavy torrential downpour that would have stopped cricket for a day or more at Bourda only caused a two-hour delay.
South African coach Mickey Arthur wanted a clinical performance and that is just what his team delivered.
After the bowlers made it tough going for Ireland, Kallis, took over. He came to the wicket after AB de Villers had gloved a lifting delivery from 6' 8" Boyd Rankin to wicket-keeper Niall O'Brien for a third ball duck and enjoyed the luxury of batting with little or no pressure.
Together with skipper Graeme Smith, the pair played themselves in, before expanding their stroke play.
Smith, on course for a record fifth consecutive half-century in the competition, must have been bewildered when he smashed a delivery back to Ireland skipper Trent Johnston only to see Johnston reach down and grab a stunning one-handed catch.
Smith scored 41 from 45 balls studded with six powerfully struck boundaries.
Herschelle Gibbs lasted four overs before pulling a short delivery from Rankin straight to Andrew White at short mid wicket who took a good low catch to put South Africa 85-3 in the 16th over.
Rode his luck
But Kallis rode his luck well.
He was put down by Rankin off his own bowling of the last ball of his seven over spell and the eventual Man-of-the-Match also survived a confident appeal for leg-before-wicket during Kyle McCallan's first over.
His good fortune did not end there as shortly after he spooned a catch just out of the reach of the diving Johnston in McCallan's second over.
Along with Ashwell Prince, he took South Africa to victory with an unbeaten 80-run fourth-wicket partnership.
Ireland fought hard to the end. Their commitment was demonstrated when Prince drove a delivery off the back foot to the long-off boundary which would have ended the match were it not for a splendid bit of fielding by Jeremy Bray which saved two runs and forced Prince to play another shot.
This time, however Prince was not to be denied the boundary and he promptly hit the next ball for six to end the game emphatically.
Earlier, South Africa had a good start after inserting Ireland.
Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini bowled maidens in the first two overs to start the match before Pollock trapped the dangerous Bray leg-before-wicket.
Rain then stopped play for 13 minutes. Only seven minutes of play was possible before a heavy downpour arrived.
After the lengthy delay, the complexion of the game changed because of the reduction of the overs.
Ireland were 23-1 after 11 overs. The first round giant-killers were now faced with the task of increasing the scoring rate with 24 overs left and the efficient South Africans now on top of their game.
The other opener William Porterfield was dismissed by Pollock nine balls after the resumption when he tried to cut over backward point and was caught by Kallis for 14.
Eoin Morgan 28 (4x4) and Niall O'Brien 25 (3x4) had a promising 32-run partnership for the third wicket before Andrew Hall got a delivery to lift sharply. It hit Morgan's glove and popped a simple catch to Prince at mid on.
Three overs later, O'Brien hit Langeveldt to the long off fence for four then tried to turn the next ball down the leg side, was deceived by the pace and Gibbs took a simple catch at mid-pitch.
Andrew White hit a run-a-ball 30 laced with five fours but he was the last of the Irishmen to post a significant score before smacking a knee-high full-toss from Smith straight to Gibbs at short midwicket.
Ireland closed at 152-8 after 35 overs but the Duckworth Lewis system required South Africa to score 160 for their second victory.
Both teams will remain in Guyana as South Africa is scheduled to play against the other giant-killer Bangladesh on Saturday while Ireland will feature in the final "Super Eight" game at the new stadium against New Zealand on Easter Monday.