From: msains@ibis.ru.ac.za (Malcolm Sainsbury)
Subject: SA India Day 3
Organization: IS Department, Rhodes University
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 22:00:35 GMT

The 3rd Test is being played at St Georges Park in Port Elizabeth,
only about 130 Kms from here so three of us drove to PE and watched
the day's play.

Others will have given you the score (India 71 for 6, an effective
lead of only 8 with 4 wickets standing and 2 days to play).  I'll
give you some impressions of a very entertaining day at the cricket.

Firstly, the spinners Raju and Kumble, who held a fascinating grip
over the SA batsmen, applying more and more pressure as the morning
progressed.  Fielders allowed to crowd ever closer as they went into
their shells.  What looked like a possible total of 350 or so quickly
diminished as India clearly dominated the morning with spin.  Omar 
Henry staged a brief defiant stand to take some pressure off, by
using his feet to the spinners, cracking a sweet 6 and a 4 in the
process, but he too fell and the pressure remained till SA were all
out for 275, a lead of 63, only half the game completed and all
wide open again.

Impressions of the Indians were :- a) High class spin bowling and
b) Average fielding.  Impressions of the SA batsmen today were :-
a) Admiration for Hansie Cronje for a very impressive 135 (maiden
test century) coming in at his new position of No 3 and with his
test place in doubt.  He also came in with the score at 0 runs
for 1 wicket, in the second over of the innings yesterday and saw
his partners fail one by one until he was last out, having a merry
swing at the end for fear of finally runing out of partners.
b) The silly run-out of Richardson  c) The very poor batting of 
Jony Rhodes, who with Peter Kirsten must be in danger of giving up
one of the batting spots for the Cape Town Test.

The final session was a whirlwind.  Alan Donald and Brett Schultz
are a fearsome attack.  The difference in pace between the Indian
fast bowlers and these two was just too great to explain. All of the
SA bowlers got bounce and life from the wicket and were downright
dangerous.  There was no let-up and Kepler Wessels had 3 slips and
a gulley plus two tight fielders in front of the bat the whole time.
When the Donald/ Schultz combination came off, on came Mcmillan and
Matthews who are not very much slower. 

You couldn't afford to look away from the play for a moment because
there were incidents every ball.  Wickets tumbled, appeals for LBW were 
frequent, the ball finding the edge many times, etc.  At 31 for 6 wickets 
and an hour to play, I thought we would see an amazing innings victory on 
the third day.  Kapil Dev and Prabarkar survived to the end, with Kapil 
looking very good.  Tendulkar's dismissal caused him obvious distress since 
he indicated he had not touched the ball.  I was behind the stumps and there 
was a big deflection, but at that pace I was in no position to say whether 
he got bat or pad or both on the ball.  Significantly however, Richardson 
the SA keeper did not appeal, so perhaps Tendulkar can be counted unlucky.

Impressions of the final session were :-  a)Shell-shocked Indian batsmen
(the sheer pace of the SA attack was awesome).  b) High class pace bowling
c) Fielding by the whole SA in a different league to the Indians,
particularly young Jonty Rhodes.  Three of his fielding efforts were worth 
the 130 Km ride alone. One in particular where Kapil clipped one off his 
legs to the square leg boundary.  Rhodes set off after it.  We had already 
begun clapping for the four, but he dived forward flicking it backwards into 
the field from less than a meter from the ropes, crashed into the 
advertising boards while turning, bounced up, picked up the ball on his way 
back and threw to the keeper, who removed the bails.  The appeal for the run-
out was too close for the umpire to call, so he invoked the 3-rd umpire with 
the TV replay. Batsmen was adjudged safe, but they only took 2 runs.  This 
guy is worth at least 30 runs in the field on his own.

The price of the tickets was too high.  Attendance was not good.  This 
certainly made for a very pleasant day in the sun for us, with no parking
or other hassles and easy access to the best vantage positions on the ground 
for a good view of things.  However for a day of drama and entertainment
where the balance swung from one side to the other, it was well worth the
long drive and the price of the seats.

I will be watching the reminder on TV tomorrow with great interest, though
there is nothing to beat the experience of actually being there.  Wish you
could have been there too.

Stay well

Malcolm
--
Malcolm Sainsbury - Dept of Information Systems - Rhodes University
Internet: msains@ibis.ru.ac.za                 Phone: +27 [0]461 22023 xt 244
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