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PERTH, Dec 11: South Africa’s batsmen showed a marked improvement Sunday on the opening day of a three-day tour match but there were growing concerns that all-rounder Jacques Kallis may not be fit for the first Test against Australia starting on Friday.
Captain Graeme Smith opened the batting against a Western Australian XI at Perth’s James Oval, smacking 50 from 59 balls before he was caught behind.
Top-order batsmen Ashwell Prince, who retired on 68 not out, and Herschelle Gibbs with 62 also showed flair as the Proteas declared at 292 for eight in their first innings.
In reply the Western Australian XI was 26 for two at stumps.
Although the South African performance was a marked improvement on their opening tour match which ended in an innings defeat by the full Western Australian side, Kallis’s injury is a concern.
He suffered inflamed tendons in his left elbow during the team’s tour of India last month and then tore a tendon in the same area while batting in the nets shortly after arriving in Perth last week.
Scoreboard
South Africa (1st Innings):
A.B. de Villiers c Ronchi b Petrie 9
G.C. Smith c Ronchi b Gillies 50
H.H. Gibbs c Clark b Heal 62
J.A. Rudolph c Gillies b Heal 21
A.G. Prince retired 68
J.M. Kemp c and b Heal 8
M.V. Boucher b Doropoulos 31
S.M. Pollock not out 11
C.K. Langeveldt run out 12
A. Nel not out 0
EXTRAS (B-5, LB-2, W-2, NB-11) 20
TOTAL (for eight wkts decl, 79 pvers) 292
FALL OF WKTS: 1-24, 2-94, 3-148, 4-153, 5-176, 6-257, 7-269, 8-284.
BOWLING: Clark 15-3-58-0 (1w); Petrie 14-3-41-1; Crawford 7-1-40-0 (10nb); Gillies 13-4-50-1 (1nb, 1w); Johnston 7-4-8-0; Heal 19-2-67-3; Doropoulos 4-0-21-1.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA XI (1st Innings):
S. Meuleman b Pollock 1
L. Davis not out 11
H. Brown c Gibbs b Pollock 6
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-4) 8
TOTAL (for two wkts, 9 overs) 26
FALL OF WKTS: 1-5, 2-26.
BOWLING (to-date): Pollock 5-1-11-2; Ntini 2-1-4-0; Nel 2-0-3-0.—AFP
