South Africa vs. Ireland: First innings - Part 1 – ICC World Cup 2011 Recap
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751 decided to send South Africa in to bat first after the Irish captain William Porterfield won the toss. South Africa were looking to guarantee themselves a place in the quarter-finals with a win, while the Irish were attempting to keep their slightly
slimmer chances of making it to the knockout stage alive as well.
Hashim Amla and Captain Graeme http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Smith-c90598 took to the pitch to open the batting for the Proteas against the Irish bowling pair of Boyd Rankin and Trent Johnston. The batsmen rotated the strike, as they looked to try and settle themselves as the match wore on.
Amla, who had been in fantastic form, decided in the fifth over that it was time for him to play his shots as the ball found the boundary on the first delivery. Two balls later Amla had hit the match’s first six with an exquisitely timed shot. Amla’s aggressive
style however cost him, as he was dismissed for 18 runs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757, as Ireland seemed pumped up after getting rid of the danger man
Amla.
The new batsmen got straight to work finding the boundary in Johnston’s third over, but had lady luck on his side when Kevin O’Brien could not keep the ball in his hands. Van Wyk dropped at four runs.
It proved to be costly, as in the next two overs van Wyk hit another four boundaries. Ireland seemed to have forgotten how to catch, as Paul Stirling was the next player to drop van Wyk at first slip, much to Rankin’s bemusement. Two dropped catches in the
first nine overs meant that Ireland was only making the game harder on themselves.
A better piece of fielding finally got the Irish their over-due wicket. Captain Smith was not his calm composed self when his eagerness for a quick single got him run out on 7.
After 10 overs South Africa were 52 for 2 runs with Jacques Kallis and van Wyk at the crease. Johnston was taken out of the attack when the aggressive van Wyk hit him for two fours and a six in the 13th over. John Mooney and Dockrell took over
the bowling responsibilities, as the Irish looked for another break-through.
It was third time unlucky for van Wyk when he was clean bowled by Dockrell for 42 runs. The South African batsman had done his job, as his side’s run rate was at 5.31 runs per over by the end of the 16th over.
Continued in Part 2
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