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JOHANNESBURG, Oct 6: Gary Kirsten with an unbeaten 133 scored his 11th century in limited overs cricket to steer South Africa to a six-wicket victory over India in their first One-day International Friday (partly reported in Saturday’s edition).
Kirsten made his highest score against India as South Africa swept by India’s 279 for five to reach 280 for four with 10 balls to spare.
Man-of-the-Match Kirsten faced 153 balls and hit 13 fours in a chanceless innings.
With Herschelle Gibbs, who scored 40 of his 48 runs in boundaries, Kirsten laid the foundation for the win with a first wicket partnership of 114 scored off 108 balls.
It was tough on India’s Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar who had set a challenging total with an opening stand of 193 — a record for any wicket by India against South Africa.
A pitch of consistent bounce and enough pace to hurry the ball on to the bat aided confident strokeplay.
Jacques Kallis helped Kirsten add 93 runs for the second wicket, a stand ended in the 37th over when Kallis edged a ball from fast bowler Ajit Agarkar on to his stumps to be out for 39.
Jonty Rhodes scored 20 before swiping across the line to a delivery from Javagal Srinath and being bowled in the 43rd over.
Four overs later, Lance Klusener pulled hard at a delivery from fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad, but sent it straight to Rahul Dravid at short mid wicket to be caught for 17.
Neil McKenzie, who was eight not out, finished the job with Kirsten.
INDIA:
S.C. Ganguly c Boucher b Kemp 127
S.R. Tendulkar c Gibbs b Kallis 101
R.S. Dravid c McKenzie b Nel 1
Yuvraj Singh c Kirsten b K’sener 14
V. Sehwag c Gibbs b Pollock 5
A.B. Agarkar not out 12
S.S. Das not out 5
EXTRAS (LB-4, W-4, NB-6) 14
TOTAL (for five wkts, 50 overs) 279
FALL OF WKTS: 1-193, 2-198, 3-242, 4-257, 5-263.
DID NOT BAT: D. Dasgupta, A.R. Kumble, J. Srinath, B.K. Venkatesh Prasad.
BOWLING: Pollock 10-0-56-1 (2w); Nel 10-1-47-1 (5nb); Kallis 8-0-45-1 (1nb, 1w); Ntini 7-0-33-0; Klusener 9-0-54-1 (1w); Kemp 6-0-40-1.
SOUTH AFRICA:
G. Kirsten not out 133
H.H. Gibbs c Dasgupta b Srinath 48
J.H. Kallis b Agarkar 39
J.N. Rhodes b Srinath 20
L. Klusener c Dravid b Prasad 17
N.D. McKenzie not out 8
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-4, W-2, NB-5) 15
TOTAL (for four wkts, 48.2 overs) 280
FALL OF WKTS: 1-114, 2-207, 3-242, 4-270.
DID NOT BAT: J.M. Kemp, S.M. Pollock, M.V. Boucher, M. Ntini, A. Nel.
BOWLING: Venkatesh Prasad 7.2-0-51-1; Srinath 10-0-59-2 (2nb, 1w); Agarkar 10-0-45-1 (1nb, 1w); Kumble 10-0-54-0; Tendulkar 9-0-51-0 (1nb); Ganguly 2-0-12-0 (1nb).
RESULT: South Africa won by six wickets.
UMPIRES: B.G. Jerling and R.E. Koertzen.
TV UMPIRE: S.B. Lambson.
MATCH REFEREE: A.M. Ebrahim (Zimbabwe).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Gary Kirsten.
NEXT MATCH: South Africa v Kenya, Benoni on Sunday.—Reuters
