Australia dominate in the drawn match against South Africa

1st Test, Australia Vs South Africa, Day 5

The Gabba, Brisbane,

Australia,

November 9-13, 2012

Socrecard:

South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first

South Africa 1st Innings 450 all out in 151.4 overs

Jacques Kallis 147 (14 fours and 1 six)

Hashim Amla 104 (7 fours and 1six)

Alviro Petersen 64 (7 fours)

James Pattinson 3-93

Australia 1st Innings 565 for 5 in 138 overs (Dec.)

Michael Clarke 259* (26 fours)

Ed Cowan 136 (17 fours)

Michael Hussey 100 (13 fours)

Morne Morkel 3-127

South Africa 2nd Innings 166 for 5 68 overs

Jacques Kallis 49

Hashim Amla 38

AB de Villiers 29*

James Pattinson 2-58

Nathan Lyon 2-41

Match Drawn

Man of the Match - Michael Clarke

Australia 113/3 at stumps on Day 3

1st Test, Australia Vs South Africa, Day 3

The Gabba, Brisbane,

Australia

November 9-13, 2012

Scorecard:

Day 3

South Africa 450 all out in 151.4 overs

Jacques Kallis 147

Hashim Amla 104

James Pattinson 3-93

Australia 111/3 in 26 overs (at stumps)

Ed Cowan 49*

Michael Clarke 34*

Morne Morkel 2-25

Amla, Kallis leads South Africa to 255/2 against Australia on Day 1

Brisbane: Hashim Amla scored unbeaten 90 helped South Africa to post 255 2 at stumps on Day 1. This day is fully dominated by the south African batsmans.

Amla passed 5,000 runs in test matches. Amla and Jacques Kallis added 136 runs for the third wicket. Amla on 90 and Kallis unbeaten on 84. Alviro Petersen made 64 runs.

Scorecard:

South Africa 255/2 (82 overs) (at stumps)

Hashim Amla           90*

Jacques Kallis          84*

Aliviro Petersen        64

South Africa crush Zimbabwe by 10 wickets

South Africa produced a dominant performance to knock Zimbabwe out of the ICC World Twenty20 with a 10 wicket win on Thursday. Zimbabwe crashed out of the tournament after second lose in the event having lost to Sri Lanka by 82 runs in the tournament opening game.

Richard Levi scored 44 ball unbeaten 50 while Hashim Amla remained not out on 32 runs from 33 balls. South Africa chase their target in 12.4 overs.

Jacques Kallis took his carrier best 4-15, Morne Morkel 2-16 guide to restrict Zimbabwe to 93 for 8 in 20 overs. Craig Ervine top scorer of the Zimbabwe with 37 runs. 

Jacques Kallis named as the Player of the Match. South Africa will meet Sri Lanka on Saturday.

South Africa beat England in T20 Opener

Chester-le-Street: Jacques Kallis guided South Africa to a seven-wicket win over World Twenty20 champions England in the first Twenty20 international at Chester-le-Street on Saturday.

The Proteas were in trouble at 29 for three, chasing a seemingly modest 119 for victory

But opener Kallis, returning to international duty after being rested from the drawn one-day series between the two countries, made 48 not out of 44 balls with seven fours.

Together with left-hander JP Duminy (47 not out) he shared an unbroken stand of 90 in 91 deliveries as the Proteas, who won with an over to spare, went 1-0 up in a three-match series ahead of this month's World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.

The series continues in Manchester on Monday.

IPL 5: Rohit's hundred makes Mumbai Indians No. 3

Rohit Sharma hammered a whirlwind century as the Mumbai Indians beat the Kolkata Knight Riders by 27 runs at Eden Gardens in their Indian Premier League match on Saturday. Chasing a mammoth total of 183, the hosts managed 155 for 4 in their quota of overs.

Kolkata's innings got off to a disastrous start when they lost captain Gautam Gambhir and Manvinder Bisla in the first two overs. Munaf Patel and Pragyan Ojha dismissed Gambhir and Bisla respectively to give KKR early jitters. Jacques Kallis and Manoj Tiwary then got down to rebuilding the with a half-century stand.

Then, Kolkata lost their third wicket in the form of Tiwary (27) when Kieron Pollard scalped for him. Then Kallis and Yusuf Pathan continued to push KKR towards the target but, with the increasing run-rate defeat looked inevitable. The duo's 91-run stand for the fourth wicket was not enough for Kolkata to their seventh consecutive victory in the tournament.

Earlier, Rohit racked up a quickfire ton and Herschelle Gibbs a half-century as the Mumbai Indians reached a formidable total of 182 for 1. Rohit scored 60-ball unbeaten 109 which included twelve boundaries and five sixes. He was ably supported by Gibbs who notched a 58-ball 66. The duo also added 167 off 106 deliveries for the second wicket.

Opting to bat, Mumbai recovered brilliantly after the early loss of Sachin Tendulkar with Sharma in murderous mood while Gibbs made a fine debut in Mumbai colours. Tendulkar was drawn forward to drive, but the left-arm spinner Shakib al-Hasan managed to get enough away movement from a quicker delivery to beat the bat and wicketkeeper Manvinder Bisla had the bails off in a flash.

But the mighty blow hardly affected the Mumbai with Gibbs and Sharma taking charge of the proceedings. Gibbs smashed three beautiful boundaries off Brett Lee's first over, and Rohit quickly marked himself as the star of the show. He hit Shakib for two fours and a six in his third over as Mumbai reached 50 in 6.1 overs. Sharma notched his half-century in 29 balls and MI past the 100-mark in just 12 overs.

The duo were also sensible in their approach as they negotiated mystery spinner Sunil Narine watchfully while attacking the other bowlers. Sharma brought on his maiden IPL century off just 52 balls. Gibbs went to his fifty, off 48 deliveries, off the next delivery as Mumbai went to 156 for 1 after 17 overs. But they managed to score just 26 runs off the last three overs as Lee and Kallis conceded just 12 runs in the last two overs.

South Africa take upper hand in 2nd Test against New Zealand

Hamilton: Thirty-two-year-old fast bowler Mark Gillespie took five wickets for 59 in his comeback Test to try to keep South Africa from building a commanding first innings lead.

Gillespie also took a five-wicket bag on debut against South Africa in 2007 but played only three Tests over the next year before injuries and loss of form cost him his Test place.

Playing in his first Test in four years, Gillespie ripped through the South African order after it resumed on Friday at 27-2. He took the wickets of Alviro Petersen (24), Hashim Amla (16), Jacques Kallis (6), Jacques Rudolph (1) and Mark Boucher (24) to hold the Proteas at 151-7.

AB de Villiers rallied South Africa, however, making 83 as the leader of their rearguard. He scored 63 with Boucher, then added 34 with Vernon Philander (14) for the eighth wicket, and 34 for the ninth wicket with Morne Morkel before being bowled by Vettori.

Morkel continued the assault on the New Zealand bowlers, hitting five fours and a six in an invaluable 10th-wicket stand with Imran Tahir (16) before South Africa's last man fell to the bowling of part-time spinner Kane Williamson.

De Villiers reached his 28th Test half-century from 85 balls. He batted for more than three hours, hit 10 boundaries and gave South Africa the upper hand in a low-scoring match.

"We were quite disappointed with the way we batted. Even including myself, there were a lot of soft dismissals and that wasn't on," de Villiers said.

"We had the opportunity to take full control of the game and unfortunately we didn't do so. Once again, hats off to our bowlers. They batted well towards the end of our innings and they came out with a lot of energy."

New Zealand's top order crumbled in the second innings in the face of exacting fast bowling by Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.

Philander bowled New Zealand opener Rob Nicol in unusual circumstances. The ball struck Nicol high on the pad, rolled down his leg and dribbled back onto the stumps, just dislodging the bails. He was one and New Zealand was 1 for 1.

Philander then trapped Brendon McCullum lbw when he was 5 with the New Zealand score only on seven. The wicket was Philander's sixth of the match and 11th of the series.

Steyn also bowled with accuracy, claiming the wicket of Martin Guptill (1), who steered a leg-side delivery directly to Amla at mid-wicket.

Taylor and Williamson survived several anxious moments to score 57 for New Zealand's fourth wicket before Steyn struck again, trapping Taylor lbw just before stumps.

"It was a tough last hour," New Zealand fast bowler Chris Martin said.

"It's surprising to see how the game's gone on such a placid wicket. I suppose when you look at the attacks on both sides, they're reasonably attacking, they don't give a lot away and have put the batsmen under a lot of pressure over the first two days," he said.

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."