Chennai, March 6 : A dour fightback after losing three wickets by the fifth over saw England make 171 all out in 45.4 overs against South Africa in a Group B fixture of the Cricket World Cup here Sunday.
Jonathan Trott (52, 94b, 3x4) and Ravi Bopara (60, 98b, 1x6, 3x4), who came in for Paul Collingwood, provided some respectability to the England total with a 99-run partnership for the fourth wicket, but the rest of the batsmen appeared ill at ease.
For South Africa, left-arm spinner Robin Peterson, who opened the bowling after England won the toss and chose to bat, came away with 3 for 22 and was well supported by leg-spinner Imran Tahir (4 for 38).
Two wickets, those of skipper Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen, in the very first over taken by Peterson put England on the ropes and thereafter, it was a classic hand-to-hand battle in the trenches.
Strauss chanced his arm against Peterson and holed out to long-on AB de Villiers and three deliveries later, Pietersen edged to Jacques Kallis in the slips as England floundered.
The ploy to open the bowling with a spinner, like they had against the West Indies when Johan Botha shared the new ball and dismissed Chris Gayle, seemed to again work for the South Africans.
Worse was to follow when Peterson dived to his left to accept a return catch from Ian Bell to reduce England to 15 for three in the fifth over.
Bopara and Trott, their consistent scorer, then reconstructed the house brick by brick with some dour batting that typified England approach.
Both batsmen enjoyed slices of luck and never really got on top of the bowling. Trott, on 20 in 51 for three, survived a leg-before decision after he sought referral on umpire Amiesh Saheba’s ruling.
An occasional boundary and a six by Bopara off Jean Paul Duminy, provided the England innings some momentum as the batsmen were otherwise kept on a short leash.
Skipper Graeme Smith rotated his bowlers in a bid to break the flourishing partnership that reached 99 off 131 balls when Tahir bowling his second spell dismissed Trott by pouching a return catch.
Thereafter, the fast bowlers, Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn went to work, picking up some cheap wickets to complete England’s annihilation.
Matt Prior had a brief stay before he edged to keeper Morne van Wyk off Morkel who then trapped Bopara plumb in front while Steyn came up with a similar dismissal to send back Tim Bresnan to leave England tottering on 149 for seven in the 41st over.
England pair of Graeme Swann and Michael Yardy opted for the batting power play in the 42nd over with the obvious intention to accelerate the scoring, but the ploy flopped.
Tahir, into his fourth spell, sent back Yardy and Stuart Broad in one over followed by Swann to end England innings.
© IANS
