James Anderson is congratulated by team-mates after taking the wicket of South African batsman Jean-Paul Duminy. Photograph: Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images
England took an unassailable 2-1 lead in their one-day international series against South Africa after James Anderson's five for 23 reduced the hosts to 119 all out in less than 37 overs at Port Elizabeth today.
Jonathon Trott's unbeaten 52 guided England to a comfortable seven-wicket victory, a remarkable turnaround from the 112-run loss England suffered in Cape Town on Friday.
England had conceded 354 runs to South Africa on Friday and Anderson was delighted with the response. "We had a chat after the last game because we didn't bowl as well as we could have done," the Lancashire seamer said. "We wanted to come here and bowl a lot better and, luckily, we got a wicket that helped us with our plans."
England's captain, Andrew Strauss, praised his bowlers' efforts to stick to the plans. "We had a good chat yesterday about some of the things we were doing wrong. We had a chat just to clarify our bowling plans to their batsmen and we got them right today," said Strauss.
"The key was to start well and it was a good toss to lose if I'm honest. But I was pleased with how the bowlers reacted to the conditions. Jimmy was outstanding with how he built pressure but also bowled wicket-taking deliveries, but today was a day for the bowling unit as a whole and they complemented each other very well."
England's run chase was set up by the 74-run opening partnership between Trott and Strauss. Despite the loss of three quick wickets, England's batsmen looked largely comfortable in overhauling the meagre total, which was South Africa's worst return at Port Elizabeth's St George's Park in one-day cricket.
Another failure for Kevin Pietersen – who tamely chipped Johan Botha to midwicket to be out for three – will be the one disappointment for the tourists, after a tremendous bowling and fielding performance.
It was unquestionably Anderson's day, as the Lancashire bowler recorded his best figures and first five-wicket haul in a one-day international. In the process he moved closer to overtaking Andrew Flintoff as England's second-most prolific one-day wicket-taker behind Darren Gough. Anderson is now just five wickets behind Flintoff, who has collected 161 ODI victims.His five today included the strange, with JP Duminy caught behind after a lazy waft at a slower-ball bouncer caught the back of his bat and looped behind to the wicketkeeper Matt Prior, but also the spectacular, when he uprooted the off-stump of Mark Boucher with a peach of a delivery that beat that batsmen for pace and a hint of away movement.
The South Africa captain Graeme Smith was left to rue his decision to bat after winning the toss. "We didn't assess the conditions well enough this morning, if we had posted 220 or 240 that would have been a good target to defend this afternoon," he said.
"We have got a lot of young guys in key decision-making areas of the game and it's key they sum up conditions early and make a good score. They're not all guys with 80 or 100 matches (behind them), it's more like three, four or five. They need to learn to analyse conditions."
Trott led England's response with the bat, contributing an unbeaten half-century. The openers looked untroubled until the Smith introduced the off-spin of Botha in an attempt to slow England's scoring. Strauss fell to the trap, plumb lbw to an arm ball for 32, and was followed quickly by Pietersen, who steered a ball straight to AB de Villiers at midwicket, and Paul Collingwood who gave up his wicket in similarly meek fashion to Ryan McLaren. Yet they proved to be mere hiccups in the context of the match, and from 83 for three, Trott and Eoin Morgan guided England home without any further loss.
England take their 2-1 series lead into Friday's final ODI in Durban looking for their second successive ODI series victory against South Africa following last year's 4-0 result in England.
Source: guardian.co.uk/
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Career-best James Anderson on song as England overwhelm South Africa
James Anderson is congratulated by team-mates after taking the wicket of South African batsman Jean-Paul Duminy. Photograph: Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images
England took an unassailable 2-1 lead in their one-day international series against South Africa after James Anderson's five for 23 reduced the hosts to 119 all out in less than 37 overs at Port Elizabeth today.
Jonathon Trott's unbeaten 52 guided England to a comfortable seven-wicket victory, a remarkable turnaround from the 112-run loss England suffered in Cape Town on Friday.
England had conceded 354 runs to South Africa on Friday and Anderson was delighted with the response. "We had a chat after the last game because we didn't bowl as well as we could have done," the Lancashire seamer said. "We wanted to come here and bowl a lot better and, luckily, we got a wicket that helped us with our plans."
England's captain, Andrew Strauss, praised his bowlers' efforts to stick to the plans. "We had a good chat yesterday about some of the things we were doing wrong. We had a chat just to clarify our bowling plans to their batsmen and we got them right today," said Strauss.
"The key was to start well and it was a good toss to lose if I'm honest. But I was pleased with how the bowlers reacted to the conditions. Jimmy was outstanding with how he built pressure but also bowled wicket-taking deliveries, but today was a day for the bowling unit as a whole and they complemented each other very well."
England's run chase was set up by the 74-run opening partnership between Trott and Strauss. Despite the loss of three quick wickets, England's batsmen looked largely comfortable in overhauling the meagre total, which was South Africa's worst return at Port Elizabeth's St George's Park in one-day cricket.
Another failure for Kevin Pietersen – who tamely chipped Johan Botha to midwicket to be out for three – will be the one disappointment for the tourists, after a tremendous bowling and fielding performance.
It was unquestionably Anderson's day, as the Lancashire bowler recorded his best figures and first five-wicket haul in a one-day international. In the process he moved closer to overtaking Andrew Flintoff as England's second-most prolific one-day wicket-taker behind Darren Gough. Anderson is now just five wickets behind Flintoff, who has collected 161 ODI victims.His five today included the strange, with JP Duminy caught behind after a lazy waft at a slower-ball bouncer caught the back of his bat and looped behind to the wicketkeeper Matt Prior, but also the spectacular, when he uprooted the off-stump of Mark Boucher with a peach of a delivery that beat that batsmen for pace and a hint of away movement.
The South Africa captain Graeme Smith was left to rue his decision to bat after winning the toss. "We didn't assess the conditions well enough this morning, if we had posted 220 or 240 that would have been a good target to defend this afternoon," he said.
"We have got a lot of young guys in key decision-making areas of the game and it's key they sum up conditions early and make a good score. They're not all guys with 80 or 100 matches (behind them), it's more like three, four or five. They need to learn to analyse conditions."
Trott led England's response with the bat, contributing an unbeaten half-century. The openers looked untroubled until the Smith introduced the off-spin of Botha in an attempt to slow England's scoring. Strauss fell to the trap, plumb lbw to an arm ball for 32, and was followed quickly by Pietersen, who steered a ball straight to AB de Villiers at midwicket, and Paul Collingwood who gave up his wicket in similarly meek fashion to Ryan McLaren. Yet they proved to be mere hiccups in the context of the match, and from 83 for three, Trott and Eoin Morgan guided England home without any further loss.
England take their 2-1 series lead into Friday's final ODI in Durban looking for their second successive ODI series victory against South Africa following last year's 4-0 result in England.
Source: guardian.co.uk/
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