VB Series Match 1
South Africa – 231
Amla 79, Smith 50.
Kasprowicz 3-28, Lee 2-43.
Australia – 233 for 3
Hayden 116*, Gilchrist 68.
Khan 2-15, Adams 1-37.
Although Australia won by seven wickets the match was a lot closer then that, it took a booming off drive for four from Hayden on the second last ball of the innings to secure victory. The quicks are a real problem with only Pollock showing any form of life.
VB Series Match 2
South Africa – 252 for 7
Gibbs 65, Pollock 37*.
Bravo 2-35, Mohammed 2-52.
West Indies – 203.
R. Hinds 70, Chanderpaul 33.
Ntini 2-17, Khan 2-21.
Nice solid win for South Africa, Gibbs got the team off to a great start, but a bit of a middle order hiccup was halted by Pollock and Klusener (32*). Ntini was brought back into the team at the expense of Friend and bowled really well, hopefully he can keep his form up when we take on Australia next.
VB Series Match 3
South Africa – 196 for 9
Amla 61, Dippenaar 40.
Kasprowicz 3-30, Gillespie 3-36.
Australia – 200 for 3
Gilchrist 59, Hayden 48.
Adams 2-47, Pollock 1-33.
A poor effort with the bat, with most of the batsman giving cheap wickets away, while our bowlers tried hard and made Australia play till the 49th over to get their win. Checked with the Medical staff and hopefully Kallis will be back for the next game.
VB Series Match 4
Australia – 269 for 6
Gilchrist 130*, Martyn 71.
Pollock 4-54, Adams 2-41.
South Africa – 201
Gibbs 35, Dippenaar 30
Kasprowicz 2-20, McGrath 2-73.
Another poor batting performance, in the chase of the big total South Africa were always scoring quick enough but the wickets just kept falling. Pollock bowled out of his skin but didn’t have much help.
VB Series Match 5
Gayle 83, Chanderpaul 69.
Kallis 2-24, Boje 1-20.
South Africa - 247 for 4
Rudolph 72*, Gibbs 62.
R. Hinds 2-47, Best 1-43.
Great chase by the batsman, guess they were glad it wasn’t the Australian attack…, Rudolph and Gibbs were outstanding and got help from most of the other batsman. It was a good effort to restrict the windies to 245 on a good batting track, unfortunately Lara is due a big score against us…
VB Series Match 6
South Africa - 305 for 5
Smith 77, Rudolph 76*.
Collymore 4-72, R. Hinds 1-67.
West Indies – 307 – 5
Sarwan 106, Lara 96.
Pollock 2-35, Ntini 1-24.
Wish I had said noting about Lara
, the track was dead flat but after getting 305 you would expect to be able to defend it. Our spinners have been shining lights all tour but really let South Africa down when it counted. Its disappointing to miss out on the finals but coming away with a 1-1 series draw against Australia is a big plus.