CENTURION
On Friday evening, at the end of the first day of this non-Test, South Africacaptain Shaun Pollock described it as a "practice match". A practicematch, he could well have added, played under conditions closely approximating,but not quite replicating, the real thing.
With this in mind, South Africa reached the end of the second day atSuperSport Park, having outpractised India to the extent of a 29-run lead withsix wickets still standing. The truth about all this is that while both sidesare taking the cricket seriously, the Indians are taking it a little moreseriously. As if it were, in fact, an official Test.
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While Pollock was adamant that this was not a Test, and should not bereclassified as such in retrospect, India have taken the view that it is anofficial Test, no matter what the ICC says. Perhaps the strongest evidence forthis argument is that the match has followed closely the pattern set during thefirst two Tests of the series with South Africa helping themselves to acomfortable first innings lead.
On this occasion South Africa ended day two at 261 for four in reply toIndia's 232. With the pitch quickening up and flattening out on the second day,the conditions were ideal for batting with all of the South Africans, with theexception of Jacques Rudolph who managed to get himself run out, gettingthemselves in.
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Rudolph was a little unfortunate in his first innings for the senior SouthAfrican team. He showed few signs of nerves, opening his account with a pair ofboundaries off Harbhajan Singh and looked the part until he was slow in goingfor a second with Gary Kirsten and found himself well short.
The real significance of his innings, though, was that he batted at threewith Jacques Kallis and Neil McKenzie dropping down a place each. This may wellbe an indication of how South Africa intend to play it in Australia next month(Rudolph, incidentally, was picked for this match before its official Teststatus withdrawn).
The more experienced South African batsmen all helped themselves to runs.Herschelle Gibbs played second fiddle to Gary Kirsten in a 135-run openingpartnership, but still managed to make 59 before scooping Javagal Srinath downto Harbhajan Singh at long leg.
Kirsten, meanwhile, had been in spanking form. He has adjusted as he hasmatured into the side's senior pro and plays far straighter than during theearly stages of his career and, as a consequence, is a far more effectiveplayer, perfectly capable of outscoring Gibbs when the mood takes him.
He looked, in fact, all set to make his first unofficial, five-dayinternational friendly century when he was somewhat surprisingly dismissed,edging Ashish Nehra to first slip.
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There was only one further successes for India on a day when their threeseamers and two spinners all looked equally ineffective. Kallis (41 not out) andMcKenzie (33) put on 66 for the fourth wicket before McKenzie was caught at slipoff Sachin Tendulkar off the last ball of the day. By then, though, attention atCenturion was mostly focussed on the England-South Africa rugby match atTwickenham. That, at least, was an official Test match.
