Colombo: A determined West Indies defied a strong South African bowling attack to score 238 for eight off its quota of 50 overs in a Pool 'C' league match of the ICC Champions Trophy cricket tournament on Friday.
Put in to bat, West Indies was off to a slow start before opener Chris Gayle, who top scored with 49, gave the much needed impetus to the scoring rate and ensured that the team put up a reasonable score on the board. Star batsman Brian Lara showed a glimpse of his genius reaching 21 off 33 balls before he became overambitious and lofted a Nicky Boje delivery over mid-on which was nicely held by a running Alan Donald. But West Indies played cautiously throughout and opener Shivnarine Chanderpaul looked out of touch, struggling to score initially as he took 26 balls to score just five. He tried to make up for it later but clearly found the going tough and often failed to rotate the strike. But he doggedly stuck on and managed to reach 45 when he was out in a similar fashion as Lara, caught by Boeta Dippenaar off paceman Alan Dawson with the total on 153. Skipper Carl Hooper, who began on a belligerent note hitting three fours and a six, fell on the same score when he was trapped leg before by rival South African skipper Shaun Pollock for a 32-ball 27. Hooper's dismissal was a big psychological victory for the Proteas, who tightened their bowling and took control of the proceedings. The South African attack seemed to lack the killer instinct with pace spearhead Donald and Dawson erring in line often. Donald was welcomed by a four both in his first and second spells with Gayle singling him out for special punishment, hitting him for three fours in one over. Ramnaresh Sarwan, who contributed a quick fire 36 off 34 balls, also hit Donald for two consecutive fours. Donald ended up conceding 44 runs off his eight overs while taking two wickets. Dawson was not spared either by the hard-hitting West Indies batsman. Two of the three sixes of the innings came off his deliveries while the only spinner in the squad Nicky Boje was responsible for the third when Hooper lofted him over long on. Dawson finished with figures of 10-1-51-1. Kallis emerged as the most impressive bowler as he troubled the batsman often with intelligent variation in pace and bounce. He dismissed the dangerous looking Sarwan with a deceiving delivery that uprooted the leg stumps in a spectacular fashion. He struck again in his consecutive over dismissing the aggressive Ridley Jacobs, caught by Pollock for 25 that came off 21 balls. The South Africans were surprisingly lax in their fielding and failed to effect direct hits on quite a few occasions with the electric Jonty Rhodes also being the culprit once. However, they did manage one run out when Mahendra Nagamootto was dismissed in the final over. South Africa will need to score at 4.78 runs per over and a victory would almost ensure them a semi-final berth as the third team in the group is Kenya. Extras:
Pollock opts to field on winning toss against Windies
Thatscricket Special: ICC Champions Trophy
Tags: cricket, determined west indies, defied strong south african bowling attack, quota of overs, league match, icc champions trophy tournament, bat, slow start, opener chris gayle, top scored, much needed impetus, scoring rate, star batsman brian lara, mid-on, running alan donald, shivnarine chanderpaul, rotate strike, caught, boeta dippenaar, paceman alan dawson, skipper carl hooper, shaun pollock, dismissal, big psychological victory.
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