Date-stamped : 04 Dec93 - 19:49 Ind v RSA, ODI7, Report Buffalo Park (East London), 19 Dec 92 Conditions: It was a hot and humid day, with a cool breeze coming in off the sea. There was not much pace or bounce on the wicket. Howev- er the outfield was very fast. The outfield did slow down a lit- tle after there was some rain during the Indian batting stint. After the rain, the ball got to turn a lot from the heavy atmos- pheric conditions. Substitutions: RSA: Fielding M Pringle for B McMillan Attendance: 15000, Capacity: 15000 Comments: The South African's did not get of to a good start when Hudson, was sent back to the dressing room, after a ball had stayed low and struck him firmly on the pad. This then brought Kirsten in, and he - together with his captain went about trying to restart the innings. However, they did stabilise the innings, but with the wicket being easy paced, they took long and this then put pressure on the rest of the batsman. After Kirsten and Wessels had departed along with the luckless Callaghan (getting a bottom edge to the ball and wicketkeeper Yadav, doing very well to hold on to the ball), Rhodes and Cronje set about trying to instill some measure of order into the RSA target which, if the bowlers wanted a chance at defending, had to be in the re- gion of about 230 to 240 since the wicket did not offer much help to the bats- man. Rhodes and Cronje did the job admirably well, and were very adept at stealing the short singles but even though they kept the score board ticking over, they were not able to get the boun- daries and really get on with the run chase. It should be noted that in a very quite innings, Rhodes unlike his character played the anchor role to Cronje whose job it was to take the risks. Fi- nally when Cronje went in the 48th over, it seemed as if RSA might just be able to get to 220, but then disaster. Rhodes fol- lowed 3 balls later trying to force the pace. Indians then stopped any run chase that would have been possible when McMillan trying to get the runs went on wild swings and the Indians bowlers bowled intellegently and did not give him room to play the shot. On the ball last in at- tempting to steal 1 runs, Matthews was run out after McMillan had dabbed the ball down and set off for the run. Dev run in and hit the stumps with Matthews outside his crease. The last 3 wick- ets falling in 2 overs for 4 runs. Not what any side would want to happen in an ODI. India also got off to a slow start losing wickets early on. With Prabhakar going in the 5th and Manjrekar and Tendulkar following in the 15th and 16th overs, it was once again the job of the ca- patain Azharuddin to save his side. Together with Amre he went about salvaging the situation along with some help from the South African's. For the first time in the series, the RSA game plan was disrupted when McMillan sprained his right ankle when trying to stop a delivery from Tendulkar being hit past him. This inju- ry then forced Wessels to allow McMillan to bowl his full 10 overs on the trot. By doing this he then had to bowl his 5th bowler pair later than he wanted to. This resulted in pres- sure being put onto the RSA fielders. This pressure on the RSA field- ers did nothing to stop Amre running his captain out. Callaghan had overstepped the mark, with the resultant ball being a no- ball. Amre played the ball onto his body and set off for the run. Azharuddin responed. The ball then dropped onto his knee and he then kneed(?) it onto his foot and in the process kicked it directly into Callaghan's hands who then had to just hit the stumps, and which he did, to run Azharuddin by the proverbial mile. To illustrate this the umpire did not even call for the television replay. However, the dismisall only brought Dev to the wicket, and with the run rate ap- proaching 5 1/2 to the over, something drastic had to be done. Dev however did not play his smash wham thank you game but instead went for singles and the gaps. In his short stay he hit only 1 boundary - Cronje for max- imum over the midwicket boundary. When Dev was dismissed, there was a faint glimmer of hope for the South African's. The wicket- keeper Yadav, brought into the side because of his batting, then joined Amre in the middle, and showed the RSA batsman how to bat in the last cou- ple overs of a match. With the runs flowing easi- ly, the RSA fielders for the first time in the series were that extra me- tre to far or the were the extra yard too slow. The throw- ing from the boundary was also not up to standard. SCORING CHART: South Africa: 12 * 11 * * 11 10 * * * * * 10 R 9 * * * * * 9 8 * * * * ** * 8 U 7 * * * * * * * ** * 7 6 * * ** * ** * ****** 6 N 5 * * * * ** * ** * *** ******* 5 4 * * * ** ** ** * ** * ************ 4 S 3 * * * *** * ** **** * *** * ************* 3 2 * * * *** **** ****** ** **** * *************** 2 1 *** * *** ************************************** 1 1 2 3 4 5 12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 O V E R S India: 12 * 12 11 * 11 10 * 10 R 9 * * * 9 8 * * * ** * 8 U 7 * * * ** ** ** 7 6 * * * * * *** ** ** *** 6 N 5 * * * ** ** * **** ** ******* 5 4 * ** * *** ** * **** ********** 4 S 3 * * * * ** ****** ** * *************** 3 2 ***** * ** ****** ******************** 2 1 ***** * * *** **************************** 1 1 2 3 4 . 123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345672 O V E R S Note: There was a Television and Radio blackout between the 10th and 14th overs. HISTORICAL EVENTS: 1. Cronje's (RSA) 55 is his first fifty and highest score in ODI's. 2. With his dismissal of Cronje, Prabhakar (India) claimed his 100th ODI wicket. 3. Amre's 84* is his highest score in ODI's. 4. Yadav's 32* is his highest score in ODI's. Thanks to Feroz Khan on r.s.c. Contributed by probal (probal@*rutgers.edu)