Records tumble; so do Kenyans
Prem Panicker
When the cause of death is obvious, you don't really bother with an elaborate post mortem, do you?
At Newlands, Cape Town, the cause of death was very obvious. There were two teams out there -- one, relentless in the way it seizes on every chance it gets to grind the opposition to dust; and the other, a team that had lifted itself above itself the other evening, against India, and now found that it doesn't have enough under the hood to produce an encore.
In other words -- and on a Newlands, Cape Town track that would offer bounce and pace to genuine quicks but, when medium-paced bowlers operated, would merely ensure that the ball came on to the bat -- South Africa demolished Kenya's pretensions with a display of ruthless batting.
With Gary Kirsten back in the side -- which, when you think of it, was a bit rough of Boeta Dipenaar after his performance the other evening -- and South Africa taking first strike, matters moved in the most predictable of ways. The flamboyant Herschelle Gibbs, finding no real challenge in the middle, threw away his wicket with a wild hoik -- the front foot was plonked down before the bowler had bowled, along came the short ball, Gibbs in his arrogance swatted at it anyway, and holed out to midwicket.
That was about that, in terms of a contest. From there on, it was all Gary Kirsten and Neil McKenzie. Kenya were doubly hampered -- firstly, through Joseph Angarra, the only Kenyan bowler who has thus far looked incisive, having to fly home following the death of his mother and secondly, through the fielding side which, having touched sublime heights in the previous game, plumbing the depths of the ridiculous today. There were two dropped return catches in the first five overs -- and at that point, the fielders were merely warming up before really showing what they could do.
From there on, it was all about landmarks. Gary Kirsten became the first South African batsman to score 6000 ODI runs (at a very healthy 41.7 average what's more). And shortly after, notched up yet another century. The two batsmen then brought up the 200 of the partnership, in the 40th over, off just 199 deliveries -- without ever seeming to move into top gear. It was all about ensuring that every ball was scored off -- either the gentle taps into the outfield for runs, or the thundering hits to the fence.
Going into the slog, Kirsten did all he possibly could to throw his wicket away and after yet another dropped catch off a slog sweep, finally succeeded. Skipper Shaun Pollock came out, teed off and produced a drive that would have had Tiger Woods nodding approval, then made way for Mark Boucher.
What Boucher did wasn't even funny. Gripping his bat like he was trying to wring its neck, the keeper-batsman wound up and swung at every ball bowled to him, science and brute force combining to blast a 50 off just 19 balls, with two stunning straight driven fours and four blustering sixes.
The final ten overs produced 115 runs, McKenzie completed his century, South Africa put up 354/3 in its allotted overs -- the highest ever of South African soil -- and you waited for the Proteas to come back out and finish off the formalities.
The point of note in the Kenyan chase was the return of Nantie Hayward, South Africa's fastest bowler at present. His performance was relevant given that with Allan Donald ruled out of the upcoming Test series against India, it is now up to Hayward to spearhead the attack.
On the evidence of his performance today, he should prove quite a handful in tandem with Andre Nel. It was apparent that Hayward wasn't really going for broke out there -- but even so, the rhythm was right, the ball came nicely out of the hand, and gained fair speed both in the air and off the deck.
The Kenyans batted as well as they were allowed to -- but they were never in with a chance, despite occasional acts of derring do by Thomas Odoyo against some of the lesser bowlers. The disciplined Protean line and length, and the razor-sharp fielding spearheaded by the Rhodes-Gibbs combine on the off, reduced the second half of the game to farcical levels.
Full scoreboard:
The South African innings
The Kenyan innings
