Hall Resurrects Proteas

The inexperienced South Africans proved they were nopush-overs as they launched a spirited fightback after a mid-innings jolt andkept themselves afloat in the first Test against India today.

Andrew Hall, opening the innings for the first time inhis Test career, played the sheet anchor's role to perfection with a grittyunbeaten knock of 78 and guided the visitors to a comfortable 230 for four intheir first innings at close on the opening day.

The right-handed Hall notched up his third Test halfcentury as he batted right through the day on a good batting strip at the GreenPark stadium.

Boeta Dippenaar was giving Hall company with a cautious46 after Anil Kumble had done the damage to the South African innings bysnapping up two wickets each in the pre-and post-lunch sessions.

Kumble provided the vital breakthroughs by evictingcaptain Graeme Smith (37) and Martin van Jaarsveld (2) just before lunch andthen dramatically removing dangerman Jacques Kallis (37) and Jacques Rudolph (0)off consecutive deliveries just before tea to put India in the saddle.

But Hall and Dippenaar ensured that there were no further setbacks for thevisitors as they defied the Indian spinners to remain unseparated in the lastsession which turned out to be disappointing for the hosts. The pair havealready stitched 76 runs for the unfinished fifth wicket partnership which hashelped the visitors to bounce back into the game after being 154 for four at onestage.

The South Africans began well on the much-speculatedGreen Park track but the two blows by Kumble undid the good work done by theopeners to some extent after electing to bat first.

The two openers Smith and Hall provided a solid startto the innings as they played cautiously to the Indian new ball operators ZaheerKhan and Saurav Ganguly who failed to obtain much purchase from the track.

Smith was a trifle tentative in the initial stages ofthe innings but grew in confidence to unleash a few attacking shots on bothsides of the wicket.

With the Indians opting to go into the match with threespecialist spinners, Ganguly had to share the new ball with Zaheer but neverreally troubled the batmen.

Ganguly introduced Kumble as early as in the tenth overof the innings and the leg spinner responded after the drinks break by gettingrid of Smith. Smith played onto his stumps as he went for a forward defensiveshot much to the delight of the home crowd. His knock of 37 came off 66 ballsand contained five boundaries.

Van Jaarsveld, who joined the action after Smith'sdismissal, survived for just ten minutes as he fell leg before to Kumble.

From a comfortable 61 for no loss, the visitors slumpedto 69 for two as Kumble's double strike brought India back into the game a fewminutes before lunch.

In the post-lunch session, Hall and Kallis rebuilt theinnings with a 85-run third wicket partnership.

It was turning out to be a frustrating session for thehome team as Hall and Kallis played watchfully and were building the platformfor a big first innings total when Kumble did the star turn, snapping up twowickets in consecutive balls just at the stroke of tea to suppress the spiritedSouth African fightback.

The Karnataka bowler first removed Kallis by trapping him in front of the wicket as he went for a sweep and then Rudolph played onto his stumps, a dismissal similar to that of Smith.

Hall and Kallis looked in no discomfort as they went about consolidating the position for the team on a track which had eased out completely in the post-lunch session.

Ganguly employed a double spin attack with Murali Kartik beginning the proceedings afterlunch while Kumble bowled from the pavilion end.

But the two spinners could not make much of an impression with the two batsmen executing the sweep shots.

Zaheer was brought in for another spell from the pavilion end in place of Kumble but the Baroda speedster could not provide the breakthrough.

The composed Hall slammed Zaheer to the boundary to notch up his third half century in Test cricket, completing the milestone in 198 minutes.

Kallis also achieved a personal milestone when he reached 33, becoming only the second South African to complete 6000 Test runs after Gary Kirsten who aggregated 7289 runs in 101 matches.

PTI