England fight back to beat South Africa by 6 runs in ICC World Cup 2011
England defeated South Africa in a thrilling Group B encounter of the ICC World Cup 2011, played at Chennai in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750. The Poms managed to win the match by a narrow margin of six runs. Chasing 172 runs for victory, South Africa were bowled out for 165 in
47.4 overs.
Andrew Strauss won the toss for England and elected to bat first. The wicket was slow, and it was expected to deteriorate over the course of the match. The very first over of the match indicated that it would be a low-scoring game, as both the English openers
Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen departed in the opening over, which was bowled by left-arm spinner Robin Peterson.
Strauss got out for a duck in an attempt to attack the bowler. He targeted the midwicket boundary, but only succeeded in hitting it to AB de Villiers, who took a good catch inside the circle. Pietersen followed his captain after just adding two runs to the
total, as he got a regulation edge, which went straight to the slip fielder Jacques Kallis.
The dismissal of Ian Bell, who scored five runs, saw England struggling at 15 for three. However, Jonathan Trott and Ravi Bopara batted sensibly to rescue their team from trouble. The pair constructed a 99-run partnership for the fourth wicket, and took
their team’s total above 100.
Trott got out after scoring a steady 52 runs from 94 balls, and the lower middle-order failed to take advantage of the platform laid by Bopara and Trott. Wicketkeeper batsman Matt Prior got out for 10 whereas; Bopara was dismissed after a scoring a valiant
60 runs off 98 balls.
Graeme Swann tried to score some quick runs, but he was rapidly running out of partners at the other end. Swann managed 16 runs from 20 balls, and was England’s last wicket to fall after 45.4 overs. The Proteas bowlers were yet again dominant in the tournament,
as the spinners led the way. Pakistani born Imran Tahir took four wickets in the match. However, the early damage was done by Peterson, who grabbed three wickets.
South African captain Graeme Smith and run-machine Hashim Amla opened the innings for their team. The pair started the innings well, as they put together a 63-run opening stand. Smith failed to capitalise on the start he got, and was dismissed after scoring
22 runs from 41 balls. His wicket was followed by the quick dismissals of Amla and Jacques Kallis.
The wristy opener looked comfortable at the crease and scored 42 runs off 51 balls whereas; Kallis added only 15 runs to the total. Both were dismissed by Stuart Broad, who gave his side some hope. However, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Faf-du-Plessis-c1427 steadied the
ship for their team, and constructed a 42-run stand for the fourth wicket. The Proteas looked in a very good position with just three wickets down for 124 runs, but wickets started to tumble for them at just the wrong time.
Four batsmen were out in the span of just three runs and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Morne-van-Wyk-c2025 and Dale Steyn almost saw their team
home with a 33-run stand, but they got out for 13 and 20 runs respectively. Broad took the final two wickets to warp-up the innings, ensuring a brilliant triumph for England.
Broad finished with four wickets and got some good support from James Anderson, who grabbed two wickets. Bopara was named as player-of-the-match for his excellent batting in bowling friendly conditions.
Tags: