A spirited bowling performance from Dilhara Fernando in conditions that tested fast bowlers complemented a wholesome batting display from his teammates as Asia sealed the second edition of the Afro-Asia cup with a degree of comfort. It was another tall scoring match but Asia were always in control.
As in the first ODI at Bangalore, Asia won the toss, elected to bat on a flat pitch and batted the opposition out of the game, only this time the victory was more comprehensive. Mark Boucher and Boetta Dippenaar showed their mettle with fluent half centuries but their untimely dismissals ultimately dictated the course of the match, as their side fell 31 runs short of the target.
Requiring 338 to square the series, Africa needed one batsman to go the distance and play a big innings, and the loss of three wickets within the first 15 overs didn't help their cause, despite a healthy run rate. AB de Villiers, sliced in half by a Mohammad Asif away swinger, fell to a brilliant take by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, diving to his right. Vusi Sibanda, a player starved of international cricket, showed no signs of rustiness as he managed to get nicely behind the line of the ball and caress it past the infield.
Dippenaar, often given the cold shoulder by the selectors in the South African one-day squad, found his feet and piloted the chase with Sibanda for company, adding 60 for the second wicket. The trump card for Asia was Fernando, and he rewarded his captain almost immediately, sending back Sibanda and Justin Kemp in the same over. Both dismissals were characterised by intelligent seam bowling - Sibanda succumbed to the pull after being softened up by a vicious lifter off the previous ball, while Kemp was squared up by an inswinging yorker which knocked back his middle stump.
Dippenaar carried on, reaching his half century with an effortless straight drive past Fernando. Boucher, let off by Harbhajan Singh at midwicket, rotated the strike and played the supporting role. Just when the pair was beginning to cast doubts among the Asians, Dippenaar holed out to deep midwicket, leaving the repair work to Boucher and Shaun Pollock. Boucher relieved the pressure, carting boundaries off the part-time bowlers, including thundering sixes off successive balls off Virender Sehwag.
However, Boucher chanced his arm once Fernando returned and a skier was taken easily by Mohammad Asif at long-on. Pollock entertained, albeit briefly, with a fluent 35 but his dismissal took the fight out of the Africans. Fernando prised out Johan Botha and a flurry of boundaries by Morne Morkel were only of entertainment value as the innings folded up for 306.
Earlier, Sehwag laid the foundation with a typically belligerent half-century, allowing Sourav Ganguly and Mohammad Yousuf to propel the side in conditions where the batsmen were hardly tested, given Africa's inexperienced attack. The pitch was a front-foot thumper's dream and Sehwag merely had to hit through the line and bisect the gaps on the off side, forcing Kemp to make some early bowling changes and field adjustments. Sehwag's dismissal - lobbing a catch to deep mid-on - immediately slowed the scoring rate as both Ganguly and Dhoni, earning a promotion in the batting order, seemed prepared to graft it out.
Ganguly began with a silken drive past the covers and grew in confidence, targeting Botha on quite a few occasions, using his feet and getting to the pitch of the ball. Dhoni added the spark in the middle overs, treating himself to two sixes. However, he succumbed to another of Kemp's intelligent bowling changes, playing all over an Albie Morkel-yorker.
The conditions were such that the batsmen needed very little time to get their eye in and unleash strokes to all corners of the ground. While Yousuf, Mahela Jayawardene and Sehwag took the attack to the bowlers, Ganguly played the steadying hand. The plan was probably for him to stay till the end but he fell 12 short of the ton that has eluded him for a while and it was Yuvraj Singh who added the finishing touches with a 13-ball blitz that yielded 30 runs. Having amassed a solid total all it needed from the Asian bowlers was to be patient and slowly tighten the noose around the Africans. In the event Fernando's incisive bowling made the Asian task even more easy.
Close Shave yet again!!!!!!!!!
-helped by cricinfo
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