South Africa 217/2 at Stumps, Australia all out for 550

2nd Test Australia Vs South Africa, Day 2

Adelaide Oval, Adelaide,

Australia

November 22-26, 2012

Scorecard:

Australia 1st Innings 550 all out in 107.2 overs

Michael Clarke      230

David Warner       119

Michael Hussey     103

Morne Morkel 146-5

South Africa 1st Innings 217/2 in 67 overs (at Stumps)

Graeme Smith           111*

Jacques Rudolph        25*

Alviro Petersen           25*

South Africa Trail by 333 runs

Bell tolls for South Africa as England win 4th ODI

Ian Bell made 88 as England beat South Africa by six wickets in the fourth one-day international at Lord's on Sunday to go 2-1 up with one match to play in the series.

Man-of-the-match Bell's innings was the cornerstone of England's 224 for four as they won with 20 balls to spare after good work by their bowlers restricted South Africa to 220 for eight.

Together with Warwickshire colleague Jonathan Trott (48), Bell shared a second-wicket stand of 141 after England lost captain Alastair Cook in the first over of their innings when he was lbw to a superb late inswinger from fast bowler Dale Steyn.

However, the Proteas -- without rested paceman Morne Morkel -- couldn't make further early inroads despite Steyn hitting Trott, a former South Africa youth international, on the finger.

As the floodlights took full effect on a gloomy day where the overcast conditions had prompted Cook to field first, Bell cover-drove left-arm seamer Wayne Parnell for four and advanced down the pitch to flat bat him over cover-point for another boundary.

Bell later drove left-arm spinner Robin Peterson high over long-off for six.

He was reprieved though on 65 when dropped by Peterson at mid-on off Lonwabo Tsotsobe. Next ball Bell pulled the left-arm seamer for four.

"I've been working at Warwickshire at hitting over the top, that's what you need to do opening the batting in one-day internationals," explained Bell.

Trott's patient innings ended when he was lbw on the sweep to slow left-armer Dean Elgar after South Africa reviewed Australian umpire Simon Taufel's original not out decision.

After Ravi Bopara fell cheaply following a brief rain break, Bell tried to slap a short ball from Steyn on the offside and was caught behind one-handed by leaping South Africa captain and wicket-keeper AB de Villiers to end a 137-ball innings featuring a six and eight fours.

England still needed a further 35 runs for victory but the innings ended in a blizzard of boundaries, with left-hander Eoin Morgan a run-a-ball 36 not out and Craig Kieswetter, who ended the match with a superb off-driven six off Steyn, unbeaten on 21.

Earlier, James Tredwell atoned for dropping two catches with three wickets as England restricted South Africa to 220 for eight.

The off-spinner took three for 35 in eight overs, with all his wickets stumpings completed by Kieswetter -- the first England wicket-keeper to have three stumpings in a one-day international.

"We've got a lot to look at now; our middle order failed again," said a disappointed de Villiers.

"We keep getting in and fail to go on to big runs. We just didn't have enough runs on the board today."

Cook added: "We made the most of the early conditions. Finny (Steven Finn) and Jimmy (Anderson) up front asked plenty of questions."

But the new-ball duo were denied an early wicket.

Tredwell, who took two for 49 in England's four-wicket series-levelling win across London at The Oval on Friday, got his chance this campaign when England rested number one spinner Graeme Swann because of a longstanding elbow injury.

And it seemed England might miss Swann as much for his slip catching as his bowling on Sunday when Tredwell dropped openers Hashim Amla, on four, and Graeme Smith, on 26, both off fast bowler Finn.

Dropped catches had helped Amla become the first South African to a Test triple century, at The Oval last month, and make 150 in an 80-run win in the second one-dayer in Southampton.

As it was, missing Amla on Sunday 'only' cost England 41 runs when he was bowled by medium-pacer Bopara for an innings top score of 45.

Amla's exit was the start of a South Africa collapse from 100 for one to 115 for four with JP Duminy stumped off a well-flighted Tredwell delivery.

De Villiers (29) and Parnell (five) were also both stumped by Kieswetter as Tredwell took two wickets for no runs in five balls.

The series concludes at Nottingham's Trent Bridge ground on Wednesday.

South Africa beat New Zealand in Hamilton Test to take 1-0 lead

Hamilton: Vernon Philander achieved his best Test bowling figures of six for 44 and Graeme Smith made an unbeaten half-century on Saturday as South Africa beat New Zealand by nine wickets in the second Test to lead the series 1-0.

Philander swept through New Zealand's tail after lunch on the third day to fill his fifth bag of five wickets or more in his short Test career. He posted match figures of 10 for 114 after taking four for 70 in New Zealand's first innings (185).

New Zealand were all out for 168 after trailing by 68 runs in the first innings and South Africa only needed 19.5 overs to make up the 101-run margin. Smith scored 55 and Hashim Amla 46 in an unbroken 98-run partnership.

The 26-year-old Philander became the first player in 130 years to reach 45 wickets in his first six Test appearances, a statistic that staggered him.

"Heck, now you're going back a long way," he said. "It's just going well for me. I've been bowling well in our first-class competition back home, so I'll take it and hopefully I can get us through another few Test matches this year."

"Bowling is like batting and when you have the form, you have to take advantage."

South Africa completed their win over New Zealand in only two and a half days to take a critical 1-0 lead in the three-match series, after the two teams drew the rain-affected first Test in Dunedin. The third Test starts in Wellington on Thursday.

New Zealand resumed their second innings on Saturday at 65-4, still trailing South Africa by three runs and with the best of their batters already back in the pavilion.

Kane Williamson, who resumed at 41 not out, lifted his total to 77 in the morning session, but lost two partners — Daniel Vettori for 21 and Kruger van Wyk for 20 — before New Zealand went to lunch at 142-6.

Williamson was then out without adding to his score only three balls into the second session — and South Africa quickly capitalized. Philander had Williamson caught by Mark Boucher, the South African wicketkeeper's 550th catch in Tests.

Doug Bracewell then followed without scoring and Mark Gillespie hit a six and two fours in a brief innings of 14 before becoming Philander's fifth victim, also caught by Boucher.

Philander completed his best bowling figures in Tests — topping his previous best of five for 15 against Australia — when he bowled Chris Martin to end the New Zealand innings. The Kiwis lost their last four wickets after lunch in only 27 balls, in 25 minutes.

South Africa suffered a momentary setback when they lost opener Alviro Petersen (1) in the second over. But Smith and Amla calmly and quickly led the tourists to their winning total. Smith took his 55 runs from only 60 balls with eight fours and a six, while Amla scored his unbeaten 46 from 56 balls with nine fours.

"It's always good to win a Test away from home but we had to work for it," Smith said. "We weren't so proud of our batting performance in the first innings."

South Africa took charge on the first day when New Zealand collapsed dramatically from 133-2 to 133-7 before being all out for 185.

Recalled fast bowler Mark Gillespie, playing his fourth Test and his first in four years, then took five for 59 as South Africa slipped to 88-6 before recovering to claim a precious 68-run first-innings lead. AB de Villiers made 83 and Morne Morkel was 35 not out.

New Zealand slumped to 7 for 3 in their second innings and never recovered to set a demanding total for the Proteas to chase.

"At 88 for six in the first innings it was a bit squeaky in our changing room," Smith said. "But I think it's a sign of a good Test team that we were able to get ourselves out of trouble and get ourselves into a position where we were able to dominate the game."

New Zealand's top order batting failed again, as it has throughout the series, but captain Ross Taylor said the Kiwis had to approach the final Test with a positive frame of mind.

"South Africa just outplayed us," Taylor said. "We played well in parts and were probably on top at a couple of crucial times but South Africa pegged us back."

"We've got to pick ourselves up from this. We're not out of this series and we can still draw the series come Wellington."

Smith, Kallis put SA in control in Dunedin

Dunedin: Graeme Smith made 115 and Jacques Kallis and unbeaten 107 in a 200-run partnership that wrested control of the first Test from New Zealand on Friday.

South Africa were 268-3 at stumps on the third day with a lead of 233 runs.

Smith's 23rd Test century and Kallis's 42nd led South Africa from crisis to comfort, allowing the Proteas to break a deadlock that had existed for most of the first two days.

South Africa trailed by 35 runs after the first innings and were 47-2, leading by only 12 runs, when veterans Smith and Kallis came together on Friday morning. They stayed together for the next two and a half sessions and by stumps had ensured the Proteas were the only team still with a winning chance.

Neither is likely to count his century among his best in terms of fluency or style. Both made scratchy beginnings, neither was ever so well-established that there was no hope for the New Zealand bowlers and both made slow and anxious progress through the 90s.

But weight has to be given to context and South Africa's difficult position when their partnership began, its dominant position at stumps and the skill and effort necessary to graft runs on a slow and wearing pitch added merit to both innings.

The pitch at the University Oval, though brown, hard and relatively docile, has not been one on which batsman have felt comfortable. South Africa's first innings of 238 contained three half centuries, including Smith's 53 — Hashim Amla made 52 and Jacques Rudolph 52 — but no batsman appeared in total command.

No one reached 50 in New Zealand's first innings of 273: Brendon McCullum made 48, Daniel Vettori 46 and Ross Taylor 44. A cheeky last wicket partnership between Trent Boult (33) and Chris Martin 5 allowed New Zealand to improve their lead from five when they resumed on Friday at 243 for 9 to 35 when it was all out 14 balls later for 273.

Boult hit three sixes and a four to take 22 runs from one Vernon Philander over to inflate New Zealand's lead and to give them a slight upper hand after both teams had batted once. Philander, who had 4/50 overnight, finished with tarnished figures of four for 72.

Smith put on 45 for South Africa's first wicket with Alviro Petersen (25) to erase the deficit. But Doug Bracewell removed Petersen and Hashim Amla (2) within four balls in the 12th over and South Africa were teetering at 47 for two when Kallis came to the crease.

Kallis, following Smith's example, dug in and persevered. Smith reached his 32nd half-century in Tests in a painstaking 163 minutes and Kallis followed him with his 55th Test half-century from 106 balls. Their century partnership required 216 deliveries.

Right-handed Kallis looked to score on the off-side and played some punishing cover drives, still finding fissures in a 7-2 off-side field.

New Zealand tightened the screws further when both players reached the 90s. Smith went from 91 to 95 with a rare cover-driven four off Boult which also brought up South Africa's 200 after 64 overs. He then progressed in slow fits and starts from 96 to 99 in ones and finally to his century, in 5-1/4 hours from 201 balls, with a single off Vettori.

Kallis spent even longer in traversing the 90s, going from 82 to 94 with a series of well-spaced boundaries, then going from 95 to 99 with a superb drive off Martin in the first over of the second new ball.

He was still 99 when his partnership with Smith was finally broken after producing exactly 200 runs. Smith was bowled by Bracewell, bowling his first over with the new ball, after batting for 363 minutes and facing 234 balls.

Kallis then brought up his century with a single from Martin, which became five with four overthrows, after batting 307 minutes, facing 219 balls and hitting 15 boundaries. More than 80 percent of his runs were scored in front of the wicket.

Jacques Rudolph joined Kallis and was 13 not out at stumps while Bracewell took 3-53 and had an lbw decision against Rudolph overturned after a review of television replays.

1st Test: NZ lead South Africa by 5 runs

Dunedin: New Zealand managed by small degrees to take a five-run lead over South Africa with one wicket standing on the second day of the first Test on Thursday.

Though 19 wickets had fallen in five sessions, the match defied the strenuous efforts of both sides to gain control.

South Africa was dismissed for 238 after resuming at 191-7 in an innings helped by half centuries to Hashim Amla (62), Graeme Smith (53) and Jacques Rudolph (52). No New Zealand batsman managed to reach 50 but contributions of 48 from Brendon McCullum, 46 from Daniel Vettori, 44 from Ross Taylor and 36 from Kruger van Vyk allowed the hosts to edge to 243-9.

New Zealand's last-wicket pair of Trent Boult (8) and Chris Martin (0) survived to stumps, but offer the hosts little hope of building a substantial lead.

For South Africa, Vernon Philander's remarkable Test career continued as he took 4-50 to increase his tally to 34 wickets in only his fifth Test.

After a frigid first day, trimmed by rain to 58 overs, Thursday's conditions were benign but, despite sunshine and a docile pitch, neither side managed to flourish.

There have been only two passages of play in the match when one side has been truly dominant: the latter part of the first session on Wednesday when Smith made his half century and steered South Africa to 86-1; and its immediate sequel, when Martin dismissed Smith, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers within four deliveries to terminally damage the South African innings.

Otherwise, the match has developed into an absorbing contest of attrition in which the initiative has regularly passed from one side to the other.

Martin took 4-56 to prevent South Africa's batsmen from establishing themselves and building a formidable first innings. Philander performed the same function as South Africa's most effective strike bowler.

New Zealand then, in an innings built around gritty partnerships, managed to grab a first-innings lead with eight wickets down and in the second-to-last over of the day when Doug Bracewell (25) hit Dale Steyn for four. In an incident illustrative of the nature of the day, Steyn skittled Bracewell's middle stump two balls later.

The day ended in virtual stalemate and with three days and two innings remaining the teams start almost from scratch on Friday. Warmer weather is likely to bake the already hard pitch at the University Oval, making it less supportive of fast bowlers and bringing rival spinners Vettori and Imran Tahir into contention on the last two days.

Leg-spinner Tahir provided a glimpse of his potential when he took 1-55 from 24 overs during New Zealand's innings. Mornel Morkel, the most successful South African bowler after Philander, took 2-52.

"It is parity," New Zealand's top-scorer McCulum said. "At times today I thought we played some pretty good cricket and I thought we could have pushed on for a bit bigger lead but that's the nature of this wicket. "The game is certainly evenly-poised at this stage."

South Africa added 47 runs for its last three wickets at the start of the second day, more than New Zealand was comfortable to allow. Rudolph progressed from 46 overnight to 52 but in keeping with the trend of the match couldn't go beyond that score. Philander made 22, Morkel 13 and Tahir 10.

New Zealand lost debuting opener Rob Nicol to Philander in the fourth over with the total at 7 but McCullum and Guptill steered it to lunch at 40-1.

Guptill (16) was bowled by Morkel in the over following the resumption and there followed one of the day's pivotal periods when McCullum and New Zealand's returning captain Ross Taylor put on 65 for the third wicket.

Taylor was playing his first innings in almost a month after recovering from a calf injury and he looked rusty. McCullum wasn't hitting the ball as sweetly as usual but the pair survived an hour-long examination from the South African pace battery to establish their partnership.

Both were peppered by short pitch balls but they were able to surmount that trial and to build the partnership which was the kernel of the innings. Again, in keeping with the trend of the match both fell just when they seemed to be established and about to go on to play a dominant role.

McCullum was caught and bowled by Tahir and Taylor was out for 44, flashing at a wide delivery from Morkel.

Vettori played a typically hardy rearguard role and made 46 in a partnership of 53 with South African-born van Vyk. After Vettori had batted for 107 minutes to support New Zealand's bid for a first innings lead, the diminutive van Vyk continued that good work.

He took New Zealand within nine runs of South Africa's total when he was caught by Smith at first slip off Philander. Tim Southee fell two balls later, leaving New Zealand eight wickets down and still needing 9 runs to match South Africa.

Bracewell and later Boult carried them over the line. But the match remains one so far dominated by bowlers.

"Heading into the Test match, we knew that both bowling lineups were potent when they got it right," McCullum said. "Both sides are playing four seamers so it gives both sides the opportunity to continue to attack."

Sri Lanka beat South Africa in thrilling finish

Johannesburg: Sri Lanka tailender Sachithra Senanayake smashed a six on the second-last ball for his team to chase down South Africa's total of 312-4 and win by two wickets in the fifth and final one-day international.

Playing in just his second ODI and facing his second delivery on Sunday, Senanayake struck spinner Robin Peterson over midwicket as Sri Lanka lost the series 3-2 but became the first team to score 300 or more to win successive one-dayers since 2007.

AB de Villiers' 125 not out and Graeme Smith's 125 had earlier put South Africa in control at New Wanderers Stadium, adding 186 in 28 overs for for the third wicket. It was Smith's first ODI hundred since September 2009 to ease the pressure after calls for him to be dropped.

But Kumar Sangakkara (102) and Lahiru Thirimanne (69) put on 100 to get Sri Lanka back into the game before falling late on.

"Graeme and AB batted beautifully and almost put it beyond us, but our openers started brilliantly," Sangakkara said. "Thirimanne also came in and performed. Credit goes to those three guys. Senanayake hitting the winning runs with a six was the icing on the cake."

Sri Lanka's run chase started unusually with Upul Tharanga rather than Tillakaratne Dilshan playing the attacking role. He was unbeaten on 34 out of Sri Lanka's 57-0 when rain came in the eighth over.

No overs were lost despite a break of around an hour, and Tharanga continued where he left off before being removed for 46 by a sensational catch when JP Duminy turned and ran toward the boundary fence and held a diving effort.

Sri Lanka were reduced to 175-3 when Dilshan was caught behind for 41 from a rising delivery from Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Dinesh Chandimal followed soon after in similar fashion for 20 off Wayne Parnell's bowling.

But that brought Thirimanne and Sangakkara together and they were rarely troubled. Sangakkara brought up his century off 96 balls by glancing Albie Morkel for four, but he holed out to Duminy two deliveries later.

Thirimanne reached his first ODI half-century moments later but Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera and Nuwan Kulasekara came and went without offering support as the game turned in South Africa's favor.

When Thirimanne fell off the third ball of the last over, Peterson's second wicket in three deliveries, it seemed to be all over. But that all changed following Senanayake's heroics off the penultimate ball.

In South Africa's innings, Smith and De Villiers came together after Alviro Petersen and Francois du Plessis fell cheaply and accumulated steadily before changing their approach.

Having played the anchor role in reaching his century off 129 balls, Smith then hit two sixes off one over from Senanayake.

Smith picked out the leaping Chandimal at mid-wicket off Lasith Malinga, but De Villiers passed 100 with a huge six, then manufactured a couple more to take his side past 300.