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| Saturday, 7 August 2004 |
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Will go down in history : Rudolph (85 n.o.) defies Sri Lanka Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Galle GALLE, Friday - All the hype about the Galle International Stadium pitch not lasting the distance was thrown out of the window by Jacques Rudolph who showed by his near six hour display in the middle that it did not hold the terrors that were predicted before the start of the Test. South Africa ended the third day promisingly placed at 347-7 with the 23-year-old left-hander from Pretoria unbeaten on 85 scored off 252 balls with 12 fours and Nicky Boje on 31 not out. The pair has put together an unfinished stand of 52 for the eighth wicket, which saw South Africa trail Sri Lanka's first innings total of 486 by 139 runs. Going into day three, the pitch held firm and although there was the odd sharp turn and bounce it was not a nightmare for the batsmen. That it still held was partly due to the heavy overnight rains that have been experienced in the first two days, which may have bounded it together because hardly any dust rose from it. Sri Lankan bowlers also looked off colour today with the exception of Sanath Jayasuriya whose two wickets for nine runs off an eight-over mid-afternoon spell somewhat checked South Africa's progress. He got the vital wickets of Graeme Smith and Mark Boucher within 12 runs of each other which otherwise would have seen South Africa very much in a stronger position. The onus was on Muttiah Muralitharan to run through the South African batting. But he took only two wickets and it cost him 112 runs and 39 overs, which showed how well Rudolph and Co played him. Each batsman had his own ploy of playing him. While Rudolph mixed caution with bouts of aggression, Jacques Kallis and Smith adopted a more positive approach. Both of them succeeded to a point before perishing. Kallis scored 59 off 78 balls with nine fours and a six before miscuing a pull-sweep off Muralitharan to midwicket. Smith was trapped lbw by Jayasuriya for 23. Rudolph sealed up one end and the manner in which he battled it out in the middle was nothing knew to those who had got accustomed to seeing him bat. Having missed out on three occasions on a Test cap for various reasons, Rudolph made the maximum when he finally made it to the Test side against Bangladesh at Chittagong last year by scoring an undefeated 222. He batted 521 minutes in extremely hot conditions to compile that score. Today's display at Galle was hardly anything in comparison to Chittagong. But what he proved out there was he was a batsman of immense patience with great reserves of energy. Although his innings was painstaking at times, it was important from South Africa's view point that the longer he stayed the better it was for them if they were to get as close to the Sri Lankan total if not get a useful lead. South Africa knows they will have to bat last on this pitch and any lead can be extremely useful. Rudolph came to the wicket nine minutes into the third day when Boeta Dippenaar was run out for 46 without adding to his overnight score. He sealed up one end offering a dead bat to anything pitched on line with the stumps and getting right forward to smother the spin which the Sri Lankan slow bowlers were able to extract from the wearing pitch. Van Jaarsveld went edging a ball onto his pads giving Samaraweera a catch at slip for 37. Sri Lanka who took only two wickets in the morning session picked up three in the afternoon, when Jayasuriya sent back Smith and then vice-captain Mark Boucher for six. Following the opening stand of 84 between Dippenaar and van Jaarsveld, South Africa were able to forge important partnerships around Rudolph. Kallis helped him add 72 for the third wicket and Shaun Pollock 62 for the sixth. Sri Lanka achieved the initial breakthrough when Dippenaar hit a full toss from Muralitharan to Chandana at mid-on and set off for a single, and failed to beat the return at the non-striker's end. There were firecrackers on the ground when Muralitharan took his first wicket that of van Jaarsveld and went past Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne's tally of 527 Test wickets. But he could add only one more to his overall total, which stands at 529 wickets. SRI LANKA FIRST INNINGS 486 (M.Jayawardene 237, C.Vaas 69, K.Sangakkara 58; S.Pollock 4-48) SOUTH AFRICA FIRST INNINGS B.Dippenaar run out......................... 46 M.van Jaarsveld c Samaraweera b Muralitharan.................................. 37 J.Rudolph not out............................ 85 J.Kallis c Sangakkara b Muralitharan.................................. 59 G.Smith lbw b Jayasuriya................ 23 M.Boucher c Kaluwitharana b Jayasuriya....................................... 6 S.Pollock c Sangakkara b Vaas......... 25 L.Klusener c Jayawardene b Dilshan............................................ 2 N.Boje not out.................................. 31 Extras (B-14 LB-8 NB-10 W-1)......... 33 TOTAL (for seven wickets, 24 overs).................................. 347 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-84, 2-96, 3-168, 4-213, 5-225, 6-287, 7-295. TO BAT: M.Ntini, N.Hayward BOWLING (to date): Vaas 22-9-45-1 (nb-6), Maharoof 19-9-42-0 (nb-1 w-1), Muralitharan 39-8-112-2 (nb-3), Chandana 18-0-68-0, Jayasuriya 20-9-34-2, Dilshan 6-0-24-1. |
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