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| December 24, 2001 | Monday | Shawwal 8, 1422 |
South Africans draw with NSW
SYDNEY, Dec 23: South Africa were held to a draw by New South Wales Sunday in their final warm-up before the second Test against Australia starting Wednesday.
When stumps were drawn half an hour early on the fourth and final day at the Sydney Cricket Ground, NSW were 135 for two in their second innings, 248 short of an unlikely victory target of 383.
Openers Brett Van Deinsen (61) and Greg Mail (54) both scored half-centuries for NSW in a first-wicket stand of 101 before falling to Lance Klusener shortly before the close.
Although there was little prospect of a result, South African captain Shaun Pollock declared his team’s second innings at 269 for five before tea to give his fringe bowlers another chance to press for Test selection.
Most interest was centred on the performance of veteran paceman Allan Donald, who was overlooked for the first Test, which Australia won by 246 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-games series.
But Donald failed to make any inroads, conceding 27 runs from four expensive overs to finish the match without a single wicket.
South Africa’s batsmen also failed to make the most of their final opportunity for match practice before the Melbourne Test, adding 157 runs for the loss of four wickets to the overnight 112 for one when Pollock declared.
Pollock finished unbeaten on 36 with first innings centurion Boeta Dippenaar on 31 after the tourists had lost four wickets for 11 runs before lunch.
NSW leg-spinner Stuart MacGill did the damage, once again showing up South Africa’s deficiencies against quality slow bowling by adding four wickets to his first innings haul of five.
MacGill collected three of the last four wickets, including two in the final over before lunch, as the Proteas collapsed from 190 for one, to boost his chances of being named in the Australian team for the third Test at Sydney.
South Africa began the day well enough with Gary Kirsten and Jacques Rudolph adding 78 to the overnight total of 112 for one but then things suddenly fell apart.
MacGill made the breakthrough when he dismissed opener Kirsten for 88 before Mark Higgs removed Klusener for nought, the South African all-rounder’s second duck of the match.
Meanwhile, Pollock has defended his decision not to try and force a result.
“It was difficult to get a result on that wicket — for us it was all about time in the middle,” the South Africa captain explained.
“I didn’t declare because we’ve got back-to-back Test matches against Australia so we didn’t want to spend too much time out in the field.”
Scoreboard
SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings) 498 (H.H. Gibbs 145, H.H. Dippenaar 115).
NEW SOUTH WALES (1st Innings) 385-6 dec (M.G. Bevan 183 not out, G.J. Mail 54).
SOUTH AFRICA (2nd Innings, overnight 112-1):
G. Kirsten c Clarke b MacGill 88
H.H. Gibbs lbw b MacGill 75
J.A. Rudolph c Haddin b MacGill 28
L. Klusener b Higgs 0
J.L. Ontong c Haddin b MacGill 0
H.H. Dippenaar not out 31
S.M. Pollock not out 36
EXTRAS (B-7, LB-4) 11
TOTAL (for five dec, 80 overs) 269
FALL OF WKTS: 1-109, 2-190, 3-200, 4-200, 5-201.
BOWLING: Nash 14-4-48-0; Heath 10-0-39-0; Bradstreet 11-5-47-0; MacGill 33-8-89-4; Higgs 12-0-35-1.
NEW SOUTH WALES (2nd Innings):
G.J. Mail b Klusener 54
B.P. van Deinsen c K’sten b K’sener 61
C.J. Richards not out 12
M.J. Clarke not out 5
EXTRAS (NB-3) 3
TOTAL (for two wkts, 41 overs) 135
FALL OF WKTS: 1-101, 2-130.
BOWLING: Donald 4-0-27-0; Pollock 5-2-8-0 (3nb); Elworthy 5-0-32-0; Klusener 13-3-33-2; Henderson 6-0-18-0; Ontong 6-1-11-0; Rudolph 2-0-6-0.
RESULT: Match drawn.
UMPIRES: D.B. Brandon and R.L. Parry.—Reuters
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