Proteas pound Kenya, again

Kenya in its third outing in the Summer Spice series took on South Africa at the De Beers Diamond Oval in Kimberley. And lost.

Which doesn't tell you anything you didn't know, or could predict before the start of the game.

What did provide points of interest is the fact that for the second game running, the Kenyan batsmen found the South African attack playable, so much so that three of their batsmen made good half centuries while a fourth -- their main man, Steve Tikolo -- was looking set for a sizeable innings when he became the latest victim of umpiring error.

Before getting into the game itself, a bit of an aside -- South Africa, or at least, its broadcasters, appear to have discovered a simple way to cut down on umpiring controversies. To wit, don't show the replays. The guys producing the television images did it during the previous game against India, when they omitted to show replays from the batsman's point of view of the "catch" claimed off Dravid by Klusener, on the bounce. Today, it was the Tikolo dismissal that went unwept, unhonoured and unsung. And these omissions become all the more glaring given that when something innocuous happens, the same broadcasters show 25 different replays, plus a rather convoluted graphic of the snickometer.

Could be a plan for other countries to try -- don't show the replays because after all, if you don't see it, it doesn't exist, does it? Ostriches have survived for centuries on that simple theory, so why not cricket?

To get back to the game, South Africa rotated the heck out of its team, resting Kirsten, Kallis, and Andrew Nel and bringing in Charl Langeveldt (who, we learn, is a jailor when he is not running in with the new ball), Justin Kemp, and Boeta Dipenaar.

Kenya won the toss, batted first, and promptly lost two wickets early, in what at the time seemed a reprise of the previous game, against India. But opener Ravindu Shah, who on the day played with an assurance that was in stark contrast to his clumsy dismissal against India, and Steve Tikolo then got together in a classy third-wicket partnership dominated by the former, and characterised by shots all round the wicket.

One noticeable feature of the association was the ease with which the two played Protean skipper and main bowler Shaun Pollock -- with Shah, in particular, clipping him repeatedly square for fours, then addiing insult to injury by clubbing him over deep midwicket for a six.

The partnership had yielded 64, and looked to be just getting into gear, when Tikolo, one ball after a classical straight driven boundary off Mkhaya Ntini, got a lifter going to leg and took a swing. The bat flashed well inside the line of the ball, which took the sleeve of the shirt through to the keeper. Out, said the umpire, and a rather nonplussed Tikolo walked back with 29/44 against his name, Kenya at that point being 82/3 in the 18th over.

Ravindu Shah however was on a roll, batting with fluency on both sides of the deck and bringing up his 50 off just 62 balls. However, against the innocuous left arm spin of Nicky Boje, Shah aimed a cut at a delivery on a fullish length outside off, without going low into the shot. The ball went in the air just long enough for Herschelle Gibbs, patrolling backward point, to run around to his right, then dive headlong to pull off the kind of catch you thought was a Jonty Rhodes speciality in that position (SA 108/4 in the 25th over, Shah 55/65).

Thomas Odoyo came out to join his captain, and yet again, some controlled batting was on view. The two Kenyans played with a maturity their two previous efforts in this series did not foreshadow. The feature of their association was their willingness to work the ball around and even against the tight Protean fielding, make the singles work for them as they settled down to the job of steady accumulation.

A point in passing: the South African fielding, in this series thus far, has been about 70 per cent of their usual high standard. Ignoring for the time being the number of catches dropped, what is surprising is the way in which their ground fielding has been below par. There haven't been major misfields, but it is in the little things that the dipping standards show -- like fielders positioning themselves beside, not behind, the stumps to take the throws from the deep and thus narrowly missing run out opportunities. These are precisely the things the Proteas do by rote, and that is why their display thus far is surprising.

Aware that there was not much batting to follow, Odoyo and Odumbe eschewed all risks and focussed on attritive run accumulation. Odumbe got to his individual 50 in the 45th over, with the team score at that point on 194/4. Pollock, bowling the 47th, came in for some serious tap with both batsmen clipping him for fours in course of an over that produced 15 runs and, yet again, underlined just how much of pace the Protean skipper has dropped lately. However, in the next over, an attempt by Odumbe (60/94) to go across his stumps to work off to leg saw him trapped bang in front by a Langeveldt yorker, ending a partnership of 106/138 deliveries that is Kenya's best for the fifth wicket, against all comers.

Pollock got a measure of revenge in the next over when a very well disguised slower ball, again on yorker length, went under Odoyo's attempt to step to leg and slash over extra cover to peg back the stumps, and Kenya ended with 229/7 in the allotted 50 overs.

Worth noting in the bowling department were the performances of Justin Kemp and Nicky Boje. The former looked completely unimpressive, and was manhandled both in his early spell and again at the death when his captain gave him an over to bowl. Boje, for his part, used the lull in the middle overs, when Odumbe and Odoyo were concentrating on survival, to slip through his full quota of ten overs -- and in this he was helped by the fact that neither batsman opted to use his feet to play the left arm spinner.

South Africa opened with Gibbs and Dipenaar -- and the former yet again showed why you have to rate him among the most talented strokeplayers in international cricket today. Admittedly, the Kenyan bowlers bowled far too short far too often -- but words like awesome kept coming to mind as you watched the contemptuous ease with which Gibbs despatched them, off front foot and back, to all parts of the ground.

Gibbs brought up his personal 50 in the 2th over, off just 39 deliveries (11 fours) in a team score of 78/0.

If Gibbs has a problem, it is over-confidence. And it is this problem that yet again brought about his dismissal, as he aimed a slash, without bothering about the niceties of feet movement, at Patel's slow left arm spin, only to put it down the throat of backward point (70/60, SA 115/1) when a century seemed to be his for the asking.

The home side sent out Lance Klusener at one drop to have a hit -- but neither Dipenaar, nor Klusener, seemed all that happy against the right arm spin of Obuya and the left-arm version of Patel. The Indians in particular might want to pay close attention to the way Klusener plays spin -- with a degree of nervousness, never seeming sure whether to go forward or back, and in obvious discomfort especially when the ball is not pitched right up to him.

South Africa's 100 had come in the 15th over. At the end of 25, they had managed to up it to a mere 129 -- an indication of just how much the batsmen, even sans pressure of any kind and on a track made for batting, struggled to get spin off the square.

The Kenyan spinners however let the grip slip with some loosely directed stuff, erring most especially in length and, after a disciplined performance early on, bowling way too short and allowing both Klusener and Dipenaar to go right back and slam the ball around. Klusener was lucky, off the last ball of the 31st over, to be let off as he tried to chop an off break from Odumbe, and only getting the edge as the ball turned past his bat. Both keeper David Obuya, and Ravindu Shah at first slip, got their hands to the ball in turn, without managing however to cling on to a straightforward chance. Again, in the 33rd over, Dipenaar cut Odumbe to point, Klusener was miles out of his ground when the return came to the bowler -- and the Kenyan captain muffed the chance.

A few aspects puzzled the observer. For starters, it's a bit hard to figure out why Patel, whose first two overs cost 7 runs and fetched the wicket of Gibbs, was banished from the bowling crease. And secondly, someone's got to figure out what Jimmy Kamande is doing in this side -- he bats right at the end of the Kenyan order, which indicates that his main chance is with the ball, but then you don't see him bowl either (he was in fact brought on after 8 other bowlers were tried). What gives?!

Dipenaar got to his 50 off 96 deliveries. Klusener with three boundaries in a row off Odumbe in the 37th over got to his own 50, off 56 balls, then celebrated by pulling another short Odumbe special for four more, with an on-driven four to finish up when the bowler, by way of showing his variety, overpitched the next one.

The Proteas got to their target in the 42nd over, a touch too late for the bonus point but then, given that this tournament is a two horse race, that shouldn't worry anyone over much.

Stand by, now, for India versus Kenya, Wednesday -- and tell you what, I'm getting to where I figure I need to be given combat pay, it's that tough to make these reports even remotely interesting.

Full scoreboard:
Kenyan Innings
South African innings