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sPoRts sunday, 24 March, 2013
Zimbabwe taught lesson as future sits at crossroads
DOMINICA AGENCIEs
Zimbabwe have described their losing return to the test arena after a 14-month hiatus as a "massive disappointment" and know their future potential is at a crossroads after two heavy defeats in the West Indies. Captain Brendan Taylor said his inexperienced side had much higher expectations before setting off on their Caribbean tour but return home having also lost all their international limited overs encounters. The defeat in Barbados was their first test action since New Zealand thrashed them by an innings and 301 runs in January 2012. Still, Zimbabwe hoped to do better than lose by nine wickets in twoand-half-days before West Indies wrapped up the second test in Dominica by an innings and 65 runs in around the same time. "It's been massively disappointing. We have been taught a proper lesson," Taylor told reporters in Roseau after the tour came to an end on Friday. "It hurts to be in this position but the West Indies were a far better side than us." Zimbabwe ended a six-year break from test cricket two years ago but played four single tests over 19 months before taking on the West Indies. It was their first two-test series since India toured Zimbabwe in September 2005 after which a player dispute over political interference in team selection led to a rapid decline in their fortunes. They have returned a far cry from the doggedly competitive side of the 1990s and face a re-examination of their test status at home in a two-match series against Bangladesh next month. Only the performances of pace men Kyle Jarvis - who took five wickets in the first innings in Bridgetown - and debutant bowler Tendai Chatara could be classified as positive.
We knew it was going to be a tricky period of play for us. – Steven Finn
pakistan chase rare series win S BENONI
AGENCIEs
UNDAY could well be Benoni's biggest day since Charlize Theron won the Oscar. International cricket seldom reaches Johannesburg's East Rand and when it does, it is unlikely to be this meaningful. For both South Africa and Pakistan, its Benoni or bust in their last outing before the Champions Trophy and they will have a sell-out crowd to do that in front of. The series has got steadily more competitive as it has progressed, so the 8,500-odd people can expect a fiery affair especially because there is more than just a trophy on the line for both teams. Reputation tends to mean more than silverware in bilateral ODI series anyway. For South Africa, it is a chance to give their home fans a format to cheer them in that is not Test cricket and to prove to them they have developed as a limited-overs unit. After winning all five longest form fixtures, South Africa's Twenty20 and ODI squads did not follow suit. They are in transition but even a phase of change cannot go on without some reward. Sporadically, South Africa have had it. They blew Pakistan away in Bloemfontein and defended stoically at the Wanderers. But consistently, they have not. When forced into situations from which they have to respond unconventionally, they struggle - an indication that the evolution into a complete unit is still, as Gary Kirsten would put it, in process. For Pakistan, the picture may not be that big. They are more likely to be focused on the immediate goal of leaving this tour with enough to be able to call it a success. Misbah-ul-Haq indicated at the very beginning that he expected the Test phase to be difficult but the limited-overs contests to be the area in which Pakistan could push South Africa and even topple them over. So far, they have. They've exposed the hosts' obvious weaknesses and demonstrated some of their own major strengths. They will want one more big effort to underline
those and there would be no better place to that than in the decider. Instead of one player, it will be South Africa's
collective mental strength under scrutiny as they find themselves in a must-win situation. Understandably, it is not a major tournament knockout game and it may have absolutely no bearing on one, but is still a test of character more than it is one of skill and if South Africa have lacked in either department, it is the first. The team will have to take responsibility as a whole and watching how they work together in trying to win the series will be more important than any individual brilliance. Similarly, Pakistan's big match temperament will be challenged. Twice, they have needed to come back in the rubber and twice they have. Both times, they've got the bit between their teeth early. If that happens again, they are likely to run away with it. If it doesn't, they will have to be up to clambering their way out of trouble. Shahid Afridi showed how to do it at the Wanderers but it may take more than one firework to light up the contest. However, the victory for Pakistan would give them their first win in a bilateral series over South Africa while Willowmoore Park is best known for two things: it was the first ground in the country to have floodlights and it was the venue of Dennis Compton's 300 in a first-class match in 1948-49 "It's two great teams and it was bound to happen that the results would go up and down like a rollercoaster," said David Miller who is not surprised that the series is deadlocked going into the final match. "Whenever you come to different conditions, you struggle and not sure when you're starting a series, what you can do in these sorts of surfaces, but after winning two games and levelling the series 2-2 and after seeing different players perform, we are a bit sure and you grow your confidence," said Misbah-ul-Haq. SmITH oUT of fIfTH odI: Graeme Smith has been ruled out of the fifth Momentum ODI between South Africa and Pakistan at Willowmoore Park in Benoni on Sunday because of a chronic left ankle injury. Smith has been given a period of rest and rehabilitation. The selectors have not yet named a player to assist as cover for Smith.
A test for de Villiers and an inconsistent sA ab de villierS' caPtaiNcy will be uNder ScrutiNy iN the decider, aS will South aFrica'S ability to imProve oN a hit-aNd-miSS PerFormaNce iN thiS odi SerieS So Far
BENONI AGENCIEs
The childhood game of being able to make believe is considered a useless skill later in life but maybe it isn't. People deploy it in many situations: mock job interviews or preparing to tell a loved one something important by acting it out in front of the dog first. In the case of the South African cricket team, they could use it by imagining the fifth ODI against Pakistan is a World Cup final. In a few ways, it could be. It's a winnertakes all situation, the teams have been at it for the last few weeks so the competition has been sustained and public expectation is high. When South Africa have been faced with exactly the same set of conditions during a World Cup, they have never come out successfully. But in bilateral series they have had little trouble. Three times over the last three years, South Africa have entered the final match level with their opposition and twice they've won, against India and Pakistan in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Both times it was spoken about as proof that
they are not chokers. Still, it did not translate into success at the World Cup. That's why the outcome in Benoni could have no bearing on the upcoming Champions Trophy or South Africa's state of mind going into it. If they lose, they will probably have less to live up to in England and if they win, it will be a case of more of the same unless they can go on to claim silverware in June. Where it can make a difference is by testing AB de Villiers' captaincy and the collective capacity of the squad to pull together when it matters. Consistency is out of the window, as a unit and individually, as no-one except de Villiers himself has had a decent run. De Villiers' showings with the bat are not a reflection on his leadership as he still appears uncertain despite saying he is settling in. He has made too many questionable decisions, most recently getting Colin Ingram to bowl the over that handed Pakistan the advantage in Durban. He changes fields too often and even needlessly, and is sometimes at loggerheads with the bowlers about where they want their men.
Home town hero spins West Indies to test success DOMINICA AGENCIEs
Shane Shillingford grabbed another five wicket haul to bowl West Indies to a second successive test win over Zimbabwe but this time in front of a delirious home town crowd in Dominica on Friday. The tall spinner again wreaked havoc with five wickets for 34 as West Indies won by an innings and 65 runs inside three days with Zimbabwe bowled out for 141 in their second innings, well short of forcing the home side to bat again. Zimbabwe, beaten by nine wickets in last week's first test in Barbados, offered little resistance after being asked to bat at the start of the third day in Roseau still 206 runs behind the West Indies who declared on the overnight total of 381 for eight. A regular procession of wickets emphasised the gulf in class between the two sides as Zimbabwe had no answer to the turns and bounce of Shillingford in the final match of the series. They otherwise gave away their wickets cheaply to part
sCoREBoARd WEsT INdIEs WoN ThE Toss ANd ElECTEd To FIEld zImBABWE FIRsT INNINGs 175 WEsT INdIEs FIRsT INNINGs 381-8 dEC zimbabwe second innings V. sibanda lbw b sammy 35 h. masakadza c Ramdin b Best 17 B. Taylor c Powell b shillingford 7 C. Ervine c Gayle b shillingford 8 s. Williams c Chanderpaul b shillingford 6 m. Waller c sammy b samuels 20 T. mawoyo c sammy b shillingford 0 G. Cremer c samuels b shillingford 20 P. utseya not out 10 K. Jarvis c sammy b samuels 1 T. Chatara c Gabriel b samuels 0 Extras (b-8, lb-9) 17 Total (all out, 42.2 overs) 141 Fall of wickets: 1-37 2-64 3-64 4-73 5-92 6-96 7-114 8-138 9-141 Bowling: Best 7-2-11-1, Roach 3-0-12-0, Gabriel 3-0-19-0, shillingford 15-4-34-5, sammy 5-1-13-1, samuels 9.2-0-35-3 West Indies won first test by nine wickets and the series 2-0.
time bowlers like Darren Sammy and Marlon Samuels. Zimbabwe were bowled out some 30 minutes before tea, just exceeding the post-lunch defeat they suffered on the third day of the first test in Bridgetown. The 30-year-old Shillingford, whose image was plastered all over posters
and t-shirts at Windsor Park on his home island, took 19 wickets to be named man of the series - easily beating the record West Indian wicket haul for a two-test series set by Courtney Walsh in New Zealand in 1995. Shillingford also took five wickets in the first innings. Zimbabwe's second innings collapse came soon after he entered the fray to deliver a consistent diet of balls that darted around the crease and left the inexperienced batsmen looking bewildered. Only opener Vusi Sibanda stuck it out but surrendered his wicket for 35. "The wicket was a bit slower but the bounce a bit more consistent but we had a plan we kept to and it paid off," Shillingford said as he also accepted the man of the match award. For Zimbabwe the series was an eyeopening return to the test arena after a 14-month hiatus. But they showed little improvement from the side thrashed by New Zealand last year when they lost a one-off test in Napier by an innings and 301 runs.t