England Vs South Africa 1st Test Drawn
PRETORIA: England Vs South Africa 1st Test Drawn, England’s cricketers have got out of jail and drawn the first test against South Africa.
They had little chance of making their target of 364 after a slow scoring morning and so hanging on for the draw became the priority.
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England went from 169 for 3 at tea to finish the match on 228 for 9, surviving by just one wicket.
Captain Andrew Strauss said: “I don’t think it feels like a win as at tea time we didn’t see that coming to be honest.
“It was a bit of a crazy hour at the end. It was a fantastic effort by Paul Collingwood in particular at the end there and also Graeme Onions.
“It was an excellent Test match full of ebbs and flows. Both sides had opportunities in this game. It was a great advert for the game. We are pretty relieved to still be 0-0.”
England lost five wickets for 13 runs in the final session of the match at SuperSport Park to leave the team on 219-9 chasing 364. That left Collingwood and Onions to bat through 3.1 overs from fast bowlers Friedel de Wet, Morne Morkel and Makhaya Ntini.
No. 11 Onions faced the entire last over from Ntini, punching the air after the sixth ball to celebrate England heading to the second test from Saturday in Durban still level in the four-match series.
De Wet bowled with accuracy and hostility with the second new ball to take 4-55.
The second test of four in the series starts in Durban on Boxing Day.
England Vs South Africa 1st Test Drawn was first posted on December 21, 2009 at 10:58 am.
England Vs South Africa First T20 today
JOHANNESBURG: England Vs South Africa First T20 today, England’s two-and-a-half-month tour of South Africa begins today with the first of two T20 internationals at the Wanderers.
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England’s preparations were going well until their defeat against South Africa A when the batting subsided for 89 all out, while injuries haven’t helped the planning. Paul Collingwood takes the reins for the Twenty20s before Andrew Strauss returns for the one-dayers .
South Africa, on the other hand, were hitting their stride against Zimbabwe with a crushing 212-run victory in the second ODI at Centurion. The home side will use the Twenty20s as a chance to give all the players in the squad a run, with the exception of the injured Wayne Parnell, but there is also the need to prepare for next year’s ICC World Twenty20.
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For both teams the next two matches could be the only Twenty20 games they play before that global event in West Indies.
England Vs South Africa First T20 today was first posted on November 13, 2009 at 2:34 pm.
