The intensity with which South Africa and England played out a low-scoring game on a sluggish pitch in the opening Super Eight group E match in the ICC World Twenty20 showed that the pool would be a tricky one. With just 19 fours and three sixes, it hardly looked like a T20 contest but defending champions India and the West Indies – the other teams in the group – would have got the message that the scraps would be tough with no room for even a slight error.
South African opener Jacques Kallis combined the right doses of technique and temperament to steer his team to an eight-wicket victory but don’t let the margin make you believe that it was really easy for them. The fact that South Africa got home with just 10 deliveries to spare in chasing 112 for victory is a very significant indication of the highly competitive streak they needed to bring to the table.
Winning the toss and opting to take first strike was the indicated course on a track that had seen a double header on Wednesday and the opening group F Super Eight match between New Zealand and Ireland earlier on Thursday. England, however, found that they were up against a bunch of bowlers who displayed variety in their trade but were bound by a common thread of determination and purpose.
Had it not been for Owais Shah’s brief tryst with enterprise at the height of a crisis, England would have finished with a score less than the 111 they managed in 19.5 overs. Shah made 38 off 33 balls (three fours and two sixes) after Kevin Pietersen’s exit slowed the scoring down for England. Pietersen struck four fours in his 19 (17 balls) but was dismissed to a great catch at mid on by Roelef van der Merwe off Albie Morkel.
Skipper Paul Collingwood was the only other England batsman to reach double figures as he made 19 at a run a ball pace. The home batsmen found the new ball bowling of Dale Steyn and Wayne Parnell hard to negotiate while Kallis claimed the wickets of Collingwood and Shah to send England deeper in crisis. The spinners Johan Botha and van der Merwe bowled at a critical stage and picked up three wickets between them.
England needed early wickets to stop South Africa from making a successful chase of the 112-run target and even though Graeme Smith fell cheaply in the fourth over, Kallis and Herschelle Gibbs chose a workmen-like approach to grind England down. Kallis made an unbeaten 57 (49 balls, five fours and a six) while Gibbs made 30 off as many deliveries. Between the two, Kallis and Gibbs accounted for as many as 39 singles and 29 dot balls.
It was not easy work as the England bowlers took a leaf out of the South African book and challenged the visiting batsmen. Well as they bowlers, led by Stuart Broad, did their job, Kallis and Gibbs showed that they could be unhurried in their approach and nibble away at the target with their technique – and, more important, temperament, leaving England to rue the fact that none of their batsmen was able to play such a sensible innings.
