Lara… run-out for nine - File
PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, CMC:
SUICIDAL RUNNING by key batsmen scuppered the West Indies' chances of reaching a modest total as South Africa scrambled to a 16-run victory in a low-scoring second one-day international at St George's Park yesterday.
The result gives Graeme Smith's team a 2-0 lead and means that Brian Lara's squad must win the next fixture tomorrow in Durban to keep the five-match series alive.
Heartened by the efforts of the bowlers in limiting the home team to 179 for seven, the tourists' mood changed to despair when skipper Lara, vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan and the experienced Ridley Jacobs were all run-out, leaving the innings in ruins at 126 for nine.
That they eventually reached 163 and gave the hosts a real scare was due to Ravi Rampaul's determination and Corey Collymore's stoic support in a 37-run last-wicket partnership.
The Trinidadian medium-pacer - playing his first international match in South Africa - had earlier done what no other West Indian bowler could achieve previously on the tour, dismissing Jacques Kallis cheaply.
His innings of 24 matched Dwayne Smith for the joint top score, but before resignation could turn properly into hope, Rampaul was caught-and-bowled by Lance Klusener in the 43rd over to finally ease the rising concerns of the home team and a capacity crowd of more than 18,000.
"We threw it away with unnecessary run-outs," was Lara's candid admission after the match.
"A couple of guys, including myself, got set and should have taken us home.
"Our batsmen seemed to forget the good work we had done in the Tests. Rampaul and (Mervyn) Dillon showed us what was possible if we had batted properly earlier."
Boeta Dippenaar, who took the Man of the Match award for his innings of 83, by far the top score of the match on a difficult batting pitch, turned the knife in the West Indies' open wounds when he underlined his team's tactics in the circumstances.
"Because I got in early, I didn't have to feel rushed," the right-hander explained.
"We knew if we could keep wickets at the end that we could get a competitive total. 'Polly' (Shaun Pollock) and I figured that 180 would be a fighting total and so it worked out.
The pair put on 54 for the sixth-wicket - the best partnership of the match - lifting the home team from 110 for five, before Pollock was bowled by Collymore.
The medium-fast bowler eventually accounted for Dippenaar to a catch by Sarwan on the backward square-leg boundary and finished with the excellent figures of three for 25 off ten overs.
SCOREBOARD
South Africa innings
G. Smith b Collymore 9
H. Gibbs c Chanderpaul b Dillon 10
J. Kallis c Collymore b Rampaul 16
B. Dippenaar c Sarwan b Collymore 83
J. Rudolph c Rampaul b Gayle 14
M. Boucher c and b Hurley 5
S. Pollock b Collymore 26
L. Klusener not out 7
Extras (lb2, nb5, w2) 9
Total (for seven wkts - 50 overs) 179
Fall: 1-15 2-20 3-57 4-103 5-110 6-164 7-177
Bowling: Dillon 10-0-26-1, Collymore 10-2-25-3 (1nb, 1w) Smith 6-0-27-0, (1nb), Rampaul 9-0-33-1, Hurley 9-0-42-1 (3nb) Gayle 6-1-24-1 (1w).
West Indies innings
C. Gayle c Dippenaar b Pollock 9
S. Chanderpaul lbw Pollock 2
R. Powell lbw Pollock 15
R. Sarwan run out 12
B. Lara run out 9
D. Smith lbw Kallis 24
R. Jacobs run out 15
R. Hurley b Kallis 5
M. Dillon lbw Pollock 14
R. Rampaul c and b Klusener 24
C. Collymore not out 12
Extras (lb13, w9) 22
TOTAL (all out, 42.4 overs) 163
Fall: 1-4 2-24 3-29 4-58 5-74 6-96 7-104 8-111 9-126.
Bowling: Pollock 10-2-26-4 (1w), Nel 7-0-36-0 (4w), Ntini 10-3-25-0 (1w), Klusener 7.4-0-35-1 (1w), Kallis 6-1-21-2 (2w), Peterson 2-0-7-0.
Result: South Africa win by 16 runs, and lead the five-match series 2-0.
Man of the Match: Boeta Dippenaar (South Africa).
