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| December 14, 2005 | Wednesday | Ziqa’ad 11, 1426 |
Rudolph double century raises Proteas spirits
PERTH, Dec 13: Jacques Rudolph completed an unbeaten double-century in South Africa’s drawn tour match against Western Australia ‘A’ on Tuesday to raise the tourists’ spirits before the first Test.
Rudolph made 201 not out, sharing a 10th-wicket stand of 175 with Andre Nel (64) to help the visitors recover from 220 for eight to finish on 395 for nine declared in their second innings.
Western Australia ‘A’ had led by eight runs on first innings but had no real chance of getting the 388 required for victory.
With only a session left on the third and final day, the home side strolled to 64-1 from 20 overs when the match was called off.
Rudolph’s innings saved the Proteas from a potentially tricky situation and gave the tourists fresh hope of mounting a challenge in the first Test against Australia starting at the WACA on Friday.
Jacques Kallis, the world’s highest ranked batsman, is in danger of missing the Test because of an elbow injury but Rudolph showed he is ready to fill the breach.
He spanked 24 boundaries and two sixes and South Africa coach Mickey Arthur said his innings would have given the whole team a lift after a difficult start to the tour.
“You just have to be at the heart of the team to see our team spirit is fantastic and the guys are up for it,” Arthur told a new conference.
“It hasn’t gone our way yet, but our intensity and discipline has got better and better. I think the guys will be up for it come Friday.”
Scoreboard
SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings) 292-8 declared.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA ‘A’ (1st Innings) 300-5 declared
SOUTH AFRICA (2nd Innings, overnight
G.C. Smith c Johnston b Petrie 18
A.B. de Villiers b Crawford 5
J.A. Rudolph not out 201
J.M. Kemp b Davis b Crawford 10
A.G. Prince c Ronchi b Crawford 57
H.H. Gibbs b Petrie 0
M.V. Boucher b Petrie 0
S.M. Pollock b Petrie 9
C.K. Langeveldt lbw b Johnston 12
A. Nel c Heal b Davis 64
EXTRAS (B-13, LB-2, NB-4) 19
TOTAL (for nine wkts decl, 102 overs) 395
FALL OF WKTS: 1-11, 2-23, 3-57, 4-173, 5-176, 6-176,7- 200, 8-220, 9-395.
BOWLING: Crawford 18-4-108-3 (4nb); Petrie 27-5-78-4; Johnston 12-1-40-1; Heal 16-3-44-0; Gillies 13-3-38-0; Meuleman 4-0-15-0; Pomersbach 2-1-8-0; Clark 4-0-9-0; Doropoulos 4-0-21-0; Davis 2-0-19-1.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA A’ (2nd Innings):
S.W. Meuleman not out 34
H. Brown b Pollock 10
M. Johnston not out 18
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1) 2
TOTAL (for one wkt, 20 overs) 64
FALL OF WKT: 1-21.
BOWLING: Pollock 5-1-9-1; Ntini 5-0-22-0; Langeveldt 4-1-11-0; Nel 4-1-16-0; Kruger 2-0-4-0.
UMPIRES: A. Craig and B. Bennett.
—Agencies
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