1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

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Ljp86

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1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

First test begins today with India hoping to recover from an appalling ODI series. They were horrible throughout the series, South Africa completely outclassing them except for a Twenty20 game played in the middle of the series.

South Africa go in full of confidence wheras India go in with a lot of work to do and with some players needing a good test series to keep the critics at bay.

This should be a good series, India should be hungry to turn their form around whereas South Africa can get some real confidence going into their game and with the World Cup just three months away, it will do them wonders.

South Africa XII: GC Smith, JH Kallis, HM Amla, MV Boucher, AB de Villiers, HH Gibbs, AJ Hall, A Nel, M Ntini, SM Pollock, AG Prince, DW Steyn

India XVI: R Dravid, VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni, G Gambhir, SC Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, W Jaffer, KD Karthik, Z Khan, A Kumble, MM Patel, IK Pathan, V Sehwag, VRV Singh, S Sreesanth, SR Tendulkar

Umpires: Mark Benson and Darryl Harper
3rd Umpire: Karl Hunter

Weather:

(All Temperatures in Degrees Celcius)

Thursday: Sunny, 26
Friday: Sunny, 31
Saturday: Partly Cloudy, 29
Sunday: Sunny, 29
Monday: Partly Cloudy, 29

Game starts at 5:30pm AWDT :)rolleyes:) (10:30am local time, 8:30am GMT)

Start of play will be delayed due to a damp pitch.
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

India won the toss and chose to bat. Pathan and Harbhajan get to have the next 5 days off.

India Jaffer, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Ganguly, Dhoni, Kumble, Zaheer Khan, VRV Singh, Sreesanth


I'm happy to see Ganguly back playing tests, I hope he does well!




South Africa Smith, de Villiers, Gibbs, Kallis, Amla, Prince, Boucher, Nel, Ntini, Steyn, Pollock

Hall is the one left out of the test.
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

India 3/101 at tea. Lightning is striking around the ground with also poor light so they've taken tea a bit early.

Tendulkar was out a short time ago for 44 with Dravid still there 30. More importantly, Sehwag failed again, just mustering up 4 runs.

Ntini, Kallis and Pollock each have one wicket with Pollock relegated to first change by Dale Steyn.
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

Not an utterly pathetic performance by India so far, unlike the ODIs. There is still a long way to go, as Indian seam bowling is expected to get help on this wicket later on.
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

So, India 156-5 at stumps, after only 56.5 overs played.

India still have their work cut out for them. If they stumble, they'll be out for less than 250 tomorrow, and then they'll have to hope that their bowlers can prevent the South Africans from piling up too many runs.
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

Woeful performance continues for India with 194/7 and Ganguly the only recognizable batsman left on 35. They only need to look towards New Zealand and some fiery bowling Sri Lankans did for some inspiration.
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

Ganguly got his 50 and India is all gone for 249.

Pretty blah performance on a day on which Adam Gilchrist and Lasith Malinga had some incredible fireworks in other parts of the world. A bit of anti-cliamctic stuff. Now India will look to Zaheer Khan and Vikram Singh to perform some fireworks of their own, maybe try to do one-up on the Malinga-Murali show?
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

Great to see Ganguly come through on his return though. He deserved another chance, and I'm gald to see that he's making the most of it.
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

Haha!!

Sreesanth and Zaheer have 1 wicket each, with Saffies on 5 for 2 wickets. Graeme Smith and Gibbs both gone.
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

Oh my goodnesssssssssss meeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sreesanth takes out Amla for a duck!!

Saffies are 5 for 3 wickets!!!!! Look out Malinga!!!!!!!!

icon14.gif


What a freaking unbelievable day of cricket it has been, all around the world!
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

What an incredible day for India. No one could have ever predicted that they'd bowl South Africa out for 84!

India is 146-5 at the end of the day, good for a lead of 311 runs.
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

Pretty pitiful effort from South Africa, only Prince and tail-ender Andre Nel provided any real resistence, scoring 24 and 21 respectively. They only lasted 25.1 overs too.

Sreesanth took 5/40 with Zaheer Khan and Kumble getting two wickets. VRV Singh got the other with Kumble finishing with 2/2.

India are 5/146 in their second innings, Laxman not out on 44 with Sehwag scoring 33 and Ganguly 25. They already lead by 311 and I can't see South Africa getting the runs required to win the game.
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

Only rain can save SA now.

Otherwise, it's going to be first ever test match win for India on South African soil. They've started smelling blood now.

It's a totally unexpected and remarkable turnaround from their travesty in ODIs. I mean, I said earlier that

Chandu;122280 said:
...Indian seam bowling is expected to get help on this wicket later on.
Click to expand...

but not even in my wildest imagination could I've imagined Sreesanth to have the kind of success he did. To bundle out a side with Kallis in it for less than 90 on their home soil, this is like a 180 degree turnaround for Indian program. I'm sure Greg Chappell is a lot relieved man now, with the Ganguly political episode resolved itself finally, and having found a gem like Sreesanth in the armour.
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

South Africa bowled India out for 236 in their second innings. Lxamn hit a well made 73 and Zaheer Khan made a valuble 37 down the order. Ntini, Nel and Pollock all picked up three wickets.

India have South Africa on the ropes again. Amla was out for 17 about 5 minutes ago and the score now stands at 3/40 with Kallis on 5 and Prince yet to score. Gibbs made a duck, Smith just 10 with Sreesanth picking up another two wickets.

South Africa still need another 362 runs to win the game.
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

South Africa finished 163-5

They still need 239 more runs to win the test. But Prince is looking good on 54, and Boucher is currently contributing with 23. A win certainly isn't likely for South Africa, but if these two can stick around for an hour or two tomorrow, I wouldn't rule it out either.
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

Once again, similar to the New Zealand vs. Sri Lanka match going on, there are going to be interesting choices for Man of the Match. Will it be Sreesanth or Zaheer Khan? Or how about unlikely choices like Ganguly, or even does one of Prince/Boucher have an entirely different plot? After all, this is the same Wanderers stadium where Saffies chased an absurd 400+ total against Australia in an ODI.

Right now, I'm sticking with Sreesanth as the choice all the way. I don't think Prince has got what it takes for such a historic chase.
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

Well, South Africa fell miles short of the target and were bowled out for 178, giving India victory by 123 runs. That victory was India's first on South African soil.

Prince fell three runs short of a century and was bowled by Kumble for 97, Boucher didn't add to his overnight total. Pollock made a fine 40 but he to fell to Kumble, also being bowled and the South African tail didn't last too much longer.

Khan, Sreesanth and Kumble all picked up three wickets with Khan also getting a run-out.

Well, South Africa's batting cost them the game. If they had of batted a lot better in the first innings, they could've been a lot more competitive. Their bowlers played well, all sharing the wickets around and playing quite good cricket. As usual, Shaun Pollock had a great game, 7 wickets and a 40 in the second innings but there little support from the batsmen, especially in the first innings. Prince played well in the second dig but apart from Pollock their weren't a lot of contributors, and a only a few starts. South Africa can't afford to be bundled out for such low scores against any team but especially against one who they dominated in the recent ODI series.

Man of the Match was S Sreesanth for his 8 wickets. India leads the 3-match series, 1-0.
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

What a big day this is for Indian Cricket. They were written off after the drubbing in the ODI series. All started off with the brave decision to bat first on Day-1. The batsmen applied themselves well and with the comeback man Ganguly leading from the front, posted a good score in the first innings. Then came the point where India gained the huge psychological edge. Sreesanth spearheaded the bowling attack to skittle South Africa out for a meagre 84. The Indians batted well again and this time it was another comeback man doing the job - VVS Laxman. Chasing a mammoth total of 402 was never going to be easy and Zaheer ensured that by getting Gibbs early. Then Sreesanth picked three and pushed South Africa to the wall. Early morning today, it was the third comeback hero, Zaheer who got rid of Boucher and also delivered the Knock Out punch. So its all over now and India have won their first ever test in South Africa. This will give them huge boost and although there is still a lot to happen in this series, they might just pull off a series win too. It was a complete team effort but let us see who walks away with the major honours..
 
Re: 1st Test: South Africa vs India at Johannesburg

I'm not willing to predict that India will go on to win the series altogether yet. SA is a quality side and they were too complacent in 1st test. After their ODIs, they became too cocky and didn't prepare well at all for the test. It's quite possible the test series will be drawn 1-1, and even if that happens it would be quite an achievement for India. (Similar to Sri Lankan achievement of 1-1 test draw in NZ.)

All 3 big Asian teams have played competitively now (throwing out India's ODI debacle as an aberration which hopefully it is), India vs. SA, Pakistan vs. WI, Sri Lanka vs, NZ, so it's good.
 
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