Swann five seals innings victory

Swann five seals innings victory

South Africa v England, 2nd Test, Durban, 5th day

The Bulletin by Andrew Miller
December 30, 2009

England 574 for 9 dec (Bell 140, Cook 118) beat South Africa 343 (Kallis 75, Smith 75) and 133 (Swann 5-54) by an innings and 98 runs

England's cricketers needed just 18 overs on the final morning at Durban to wrap up a thumping innings-and-98-run victory in the second Test, as South Africa's tail crumbled under the sheer weight of scoreboard pressure bearing down on them following the team's desperate performance on the fourth evening. Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad were once again the stand-out performers, as they shared nine of the ten wickets in the innings, with Swann claiming the spoils with 5 for 54 in 21 overs.


South Africa resumed their fight on 76 for 6, with Mark Boucher and Morne Morkel entrenched in a 26-run stand for the seventh wicket, and though Morkel pulled Broad with some confidence through midwicket for the first boundary of the day, he was unable to deal with the wiles of Swann, who continued once again his extraordinary penchant for striking early in a spell.

In total, Morkel faced three deliveries from Swann, and might have been dismissed by the lot. The first was tossed up from round the wicket and spun sharply past his edge. The second was snicked to slip, where Andrew Strauss - deputising in that position for the injured Paul Collingwood - couldn't get a hand on the chance. The third, however, was the perfect follow-up. Fuller, flatter, and faster, and Morkel barely moved his pad before he'd been pinned lbw for 15.

Paul Harris was the next man in, and he received a rough reception from Broad in particular, who sensed a vulnerability to the short ball, and tested it to the max with a barrage of lifters that struck him variously on the chest, ribs and armpit. But he did his best to endure as he anchored himself on the back foot, and each of his first three fours came from steers through point off Broad, only one of which was genuinely involuntary.

The real body blow for South Africa's faint hopes occurred at the other end, however. Boucher is one of the best scrappers in world cricket, but the magnitude of this particular task proved to be beyond him. On 29, Broad fizzed a lifter down the leg-side, and there was an audible snick as the ball flew through to Matt Prior behind the stumps. Umpire Aleem Dar initially turned down the appeal, but Strauss and his team-mates were convinced, and the referred decision showed a clear deflection off the glove.

Harris did his best to hang in there, edging Swann through third man before cracking him more emphatically down the ground for another boundary, at which point Strauss decided it was time for a change. James Anderson entered the attack from the Umgeni End, and he needed only four balls to make the breakthrough, as Harris was deceived by late swing from a full length, and Broad - though denied a shot at a five-wicket haul - nevertheless made good ground at mid-off to scoop a low catch.

Instead the honour of the five-for went to Swann, the man who had set the collapse in motion before tea on the fourth day. Dale Steyn propped forward in front of off and was instantly sent on his way lbw for 3, and England's fielders hurtled from the field to begin their celebrations. The final Test of the decade had finished as a remarkable innings victory for England, their first in South Africa since 1964, as they set off to Cape Town with their spirits soaring and the series seemingly theirs to lose. (www.cricinfo.com)

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Swann and Anderson turn the tables

Swann and Anderson turn the tables

South Africa v England, 1st Test, Centurion, 3rd day

The Bulletin by Andrew Miller
December 18, 2009

South Africa 418 (Kallis 120, Swann 5-110) and 9 for 1 (Smith 6*, Harris 2*) lead England 356 (Swann 81, Harris 5-123) by 71 runs

put his top-order colleagues to shame with a rollicking innings of 85 from 81 balls - the highest score by an England No. 9 for 38 years - as England fought back from a desperate mid-afternoon collapse to close the third day with their fortunes in the first Test restored. In the four overs available before the close, James Anderson extracted Ashwell Prince for a duck with his sixth delivery, to ensure that - despite a first-innings deficit of 62 - the momentum had shifted firmly to the visiting camp.
Graeme Swann transformed England's fortunes with his highest Test score

Such a stunning finale to the day could not have been envisaged at tea, when South Africa's stranglehold on the contest appeared to be absolute. From a promising overnight position of 88 for 1, England had slipped and slithered to 238 for 7, with the spinner Paul Harris applying a four-wicket tourniquet with his choking left-arm line. It was a scoreline that became even worse three overs after the break, when Stuart Broad was adjudged lbw to JP Duminy after a referral that appeared, in Broad's opinion, to have been instigated by the South African dressing-room.

But by the close, that potential controversy had become a distant blip in the memory, thanks to a surging stand of 106 in 23 overs between Swann and Anderson, a ninth-wicket performance that beat the previous best by England against South Africa - 99 between Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison at The Oval in 2003, another match in which England battled back from a seemingly futile position.

Swann, who batted with an abandon that brought no less a figure than IT Botham to mind, clattered 10 fours and two sixes in the course of his innings, and even unfurled a brace of switch hits that Kevin Pietersen could hardly have bettered. Anderson, meanwhile, walloped Harris over midwicket for his first six in Test cricket, and it wasn't until an attack of cramp undermined his effectiveness that he chipped Makhaya Ntini to a diving Morne Morkel at mid-off.

Up until that moment (which was delayed while Swann cheekily called for a review to check whether there had been a no-ball) there was nothing that South Africa could do to stem the onslaught, and Smith gathered his errant charges together to lay down the law during another delay for an unsuccessful referral. His biggest mistake, however, was to call for the second new ball in the 81st over, with England still wading through treacle on 242 for 8.

Suddenly, the extra hardness, coupled with the extra pace of Ntini and Morkel, encouraged Swann and Anderson to have a dart at a counterattack. Anderson signalled the charge with a first-ball punch through the covers for four, Swann swatted Ntini off his eyebrows for six, and by the time Smith retreated back to his spinner, 40 tempo-changing runs had poured forth in seven overs.

Suddenly there was no holding either batsman back. Harris was hoisted into the midwicket stand for Swann's second six, then pummelled twice through the covers as he flipped around in his stance to take on the switch hit. His half-century came up from 47 balls with a sweep through fine leg, and even the rare shots that he failed to middle still skidded off the edge through third man. In the end, with only Graham Onions for company, Swann took on Harris one too many times, and picked out deep midwicket to end a truly spectacular knock.

That wicket, fittingly, was Harris's fifth in the innings, and it was due reward for a performance in which he had lived up to his unlikely billing as the No. 9-ranked bowler in the world. Harris does not look the likeliest destroyer in the South African set-up, and with his unattractive round-arm action and a degree of spin reminiscent of the much-lampooned Ashley Giles, he is a cricketer who is destined to be under-rated. But that suited his purposes just fine for today, as a host of England batsmen lined up to be prised out on a dry and dusty wicket.

Of Harris's first four victims, only Paul Collingwood - who grafted his way to a gutsy half-century before being caught at slip by a sharply turning delivery in the same over - could say he was undone by a cracking delivery. The remainder were ground down by his unyielding accuracy, not least Ian Bell, who padded up to a straight delivery to be bowled for 5, a crass error of judgment brought his place in the side under yet more untimely scrutiny.

England's day began inauspiciously when Andrew Strauss, their overnight stalwart on 44 not out, was bowled by Ntini for the addition of just two more runs. There was little that Strauss could do about the ball that extracted him - a shooter on off stump that scuttled at shin height beneath his defences - and as the punters in the stands swarmed to the bar to claim the free pints that had been promised if Ntini struck in his 100th Test, South Africa piled on the pressure and reduced the scoring rate to a crawl.

Morkel and Ntini maintained excellent discipline as England's other overnight batsman, Jonathan Trott, ground out 10 runs in the morning from 61 deliveries, including a deflected four through third man. It was his former Under-19 colleague Harris, however, who finally ended his vigil, as Trott lost his patience and stormed out of the crease to take on the midwicket boundary, only for Harris to drift a well-directed arm-ball through the gate and into his leg stump.

Harris could have doubled his personal tally in his very next over, when he skidded a drifter millimetres over the top of Kevin Pietersen's middle stump. Though Pietersen did his best to keep his cool thereafter, the sluggish conditions did not suit his combative style and, having concentrated on working the ball through the leg-side for much of his 79-ball stay, he took on Morkel with a booming cover-drive, and inside-edged a good-length delivery into his leg stump.

That brought Bell to the crease at No. 6 - a position with which he has been comfortable in the past, but the situation did not suit his mindset one iota. He had nudged along to 5 from 14 balls when Harris served up an unthreatening off-stump length delivery, and to widespread astonishment, Bell played for non-existent turn and allowed the delivery to crash straight into his middle stump.

It was an ugly way to go, reminiscent of Adam Hollioake's aberration against Shane Warne in 1997, but in the circumstances, Matt Prior's departure was scarcely any better. A man more used to counterattacking cameos had been pinned down for 10 overs and 34 balls when, on 4, he sized up an ambitious sweep and plopped a simple chance straight into the hands of Friedel de Wet at deep midwicket.

In the course of England's meltdown, only Collingwood looked remotely comfortable with the conditions and the tempo of the reply, and he completed an excellent half-century from 87 balls when he swept Harris fine for four. One delivery later, however, he was on his way, as Harris tweaked one off his edge for Jacques Kallis to complete a simple low catch at slip. With his demise, it seemed that England's goose was cooked. But Swann, thrillingly, had other ideas. (www.cricinfo.com)

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Swann takes five on day of toil

Swann takes five on day of toil

South Africa v England, 1st Test, Centurion, 2nd day
The Bulletin by Andrew Miller
December 17, 2009
England 88 for 1 (Strauss 44*, Trott 18*) trail South Africa 418 (Kallis 120, Swann 5-110) by 330 runs

Graeme Swann chiselled away with skill and diligence to claim a richly deserved five-wicket haul, but South Africa's lower-order took the honours on an attritional second day at Centurion. They made light of the early loss of their overnight stalwarts, Jacques Kallis and JP Duminy, to grind out a competitive first-innings 418 on a pitch that offered little of the spice it had promised in the build-up to this match. By the close, England had overcome a jittery new-ball spell to reach 88 for 1 in reply, with Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott unbeaten in an 63-run stand for the second wicket.
Graeme Swann claimed five wickets but was frustrated by the review system

It was a day of frustration for England, who once again felt that they had got the rough end of the referral system, and that was before South Africa's last four wickets kept them baking in the outfield for 45 overs while adding 102 precious runs. But it was a day that culminated in emotion for the South Africans, most particularly when Makhaya Ntini - in his 100th Test - and Friedel de Wet - in his first - came together to share the new ball in a testing final session.

Ntini might have struck in the very first over of England's reply, when Alastair Cook poked at a sizzler outside off stump and sent a head-high chance bursting through AB de Villiers' fingers at third slip, but instead it was de Wet who claimed the first breakthrough of the innings. Having launched his career with an ugly wide long-hop that passed harmlessly down the leg side, he settled quickly into a bustling wicket-to-wicket rhythm, and got his reward when Cook snicked a thin edge through to the keeper, Mark Boucher.

With adrenalin pumping at both ends, England were ripe for a plucking at 25 for 1, but Strauss kept his cool outside off stump while cutting and pulling anything loose, while Trott - making his overseas debut at No. 3 in the country of his birth - survived a referred lbw decision from Paul Harris when he had made 12. Replays showed that while the ball might have clipped leg stump, umpire Davis's original decision was to be upheld. Trott brushed off that near-miss, and reached the close well set on 18.

Such an arduous day's work did not appear to be on the cards for England after a successful first hour of play. England's seamers were a chastised unit after their wayward fare on the first day, and James Anderson got his reward for a determined off-stump line when Kallis nicked a low edge to Paul Collingwood at second slip, having added just eight runs to his overnight 112. Swann then entered the attack to nail Duminy for 56 with his fifth delivery of the morning - a near-replica of the third-ball offbreak that did for his fellow left-hander, Ashwell Prince, in his opening spell of the match - and at 316 for 6, a swift denouement was not out of the question.

Instead England were thwarted by that perpetual nuisance, Boucher, who fell one short of his half-century after a two-and-a-half-hour stay, and the unlikelier impediments of Paul Harris and the debutant Friedel de Wet, who bashed and blocked their way through 17 overs in a gritty ninth-wicket stand of 37. Morne Morkel also hung around for an hour in making 13, although England had been understandably aggrieved on the stroke of lunch when Swann believed he had extracted him lbw for 8, only for the decision to be overturned on review.

It was the fifth intervention in a row that had gone against England - after Prince's lbw reprieve on the first day had been followed by England's two naive rolls of the dice - and though there was no quibbling with the verdicts that had been returned on each occasion, the clear sense of irritation was quickly exacerbated as Boucher got on with what he does best. His refusal to yield rubbed off on a succession of partners, starting with Morkel, whose hour-long stay only came to an end after Onions had roughed him up with a bouncer that crashed into his jaw, before another back-of-a-length delivery was flapped to the keeper.

Harris was greeted by a barrage of short balls, particularly from England's designated enforcer, Broad, but by hanging back in his crease he bought himself time to gauge the pace of the pitch, and by tea he was entrenched on 33 not out from 80 balls, with four fours to his name including a rare lofted drive to keep Swann on his toes. Neither patience nor aggression could make any impression on a pitch that was starting to look flatter than anyone could have predicted.

As a consequence, Swann was once again England's stand-out performer. He whirled away through a further 21.2 overs - in addition to his 24 from the first day - and it was his ability to make breakthroughs from standing starts that eventually did for Boucher, whose first ball after the afternoon drinks break tweaked off the inside-edge and into the grateful hands of Cook at short leg. But, before he could get too carried away with his celebrations, Swann was pummelled for a brace of fours in the same over by the debutant de Wet, whose calmly compiled 20 was an impressive introduction to the fray.

Graham Onions denied Harris his maiden Test fifty by bowling him via an inside-edge following an untimely attack of cramp in his thumb, whereupon Swann extracted de Wet lbw to complete his third five-wicket haul. Appropriately, his celebrations had to be interrupted as the decision was sent to review, but this time there was no question about the validity of the call. That left England with 23 overs to negotiate before the close, but despite the early excitement, Strauss and Trott ensured that the long haul to parity was launched in a diligent fashion. (www.cricinfo.com)

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