da betsson： Stephen Fleming had been looking forward to winning in Benoni on Sunday, hesaid, “to give the wicket some”
da apostaganha： Peter Robinson22-Oct-2000Stephen Fleming had been looking forward to winning in Benoni on Sunday, hesaid, “to give the wicket some”. Grumbling about the pitch after losing, hesuggested, always sounded a bit like sour grapes. But he went on and had amoan anyway.The New Zealand captain had good cause for complaint anyway in spite oflosing the second Standard Bank one-day international at Willowmoore Park inBenoni on Sunday by six wickets to South Africa and because of the defeat.By any reasonable standards, it was not a pitch suitable for internationalcricket. “It looked like a wicket that was going to deteriorate,” saidFleming. “We didn’t think it was going to deteriorate after the secondball.”Winning captain Shaun Pollock was slightly less damning. “I don’t think itplayed as bad as it might have looked,” he offered, and then immediatelyseemed to contradict himself. “The odd ball kept a bit low and sort of heldback and came through a bit slow,” noted Pollock, before adding that Benonicould be a good ODI venue “once they get a wicket that’s more conducive tostrokeplay.”Allowing for the vagaries of the pitch, then, it has to be said that theSouth Africans picked the better-suited team for the conditions and thenexploited them more capably than New Zealand.The tourists sprung something of a surprise by resting Geoff Allott andleaving out Shayne O’Connor and choosing spinners Paul Wiseman and BrookeWalker instead. The South Africans had a five-man seam-up attack at Pollock’s disposal and they all bowled straight, just short of a length and allowedthe pitch to do the work.New Zealand never really got going in making 194 for eight. Nathan Astlelaboured away for nearly 40 overs for his 58, but no one managed to staywith him as wickets fell at regular intervals. The first six wickets to fallall went either bowled or leg before and with Roger Telemachus, back in theside after a one-game suspension, near impossible to get away (10-5-16-1),the New Zealand innings failed to gather momentum at any stage.Still, they had them. South Africa had to get them and the home team neededa decent start. They got it from their second-wicket pair, Gary Kirsten andNicky Boje. Kirsten has a wealth of experience and his 57 was his 34thone-day fifty, but it is Boje who is in the best form of his life.On Friday he hammered out an unbeaten 105 at better than a run-a-ball, andon Sunday he simply picked up where he left off in Friday’s washout.As in Potchefstroom, Boje was a little scratchy to start with, but he’sfinding the gaps unerringly at the moment and he rode his luck until he cameto terms with the wicket.”I’m probably a bit like a cat with nine lives at the moment,” he grinnedafterwards.Together Kirsten and Boje put on 111 for the second wicket and althoughneither was able to see it through, they had batted New Zealand out of thematch. Boje went a little tamely in the end, chipping Chris Harris to mid onfor 64, and although Daryll Cullinan could manage no more than a 14-ballduck, Jacques Kallis and Jonty Rhodes took South Africa home at a canter.The series moves on to SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday and to apitch that usually throws up scores of around 280 as par. Not just NewZealand will be hoping for a better pitch than Benoni.”On the whole we were disappointed with the quality of (the pitch),” saidFleming. “All concerned were disappointed. It wasn’t conducive to sportsentertainment which is what one-day cricket is all about.”Most people will agree with him.
