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Game ten of the VB Series kicked off the final
round of league matches, and the second place in
the final continues to be a matter of intrigue with
just two matches to go, as Australia sealed a
comprehensive eighty-run victory in the first of
two back-to-back matches against South Africa.
While the margin of victory suggests a one-sided
affair, which it was to a large extent, Australia
made their last five overs count in astonishing
fashion. No wonder Ricky Ponting had a huge smile
on his return after a brief rest. Another victory
was achieved, with his team shaping up nicely ahead
of the finals.
The Telstra Dome in Melbourne has come under flak
for favouring the team that batted first. But South
Africa and Graeme Smith have more than just
Melbourne to blame for their loss.
The South African strategy while bowling went as
astray as their strategy while chasing with a
baffling batting order. But credit must be given
for Shaun Pollock's miserly overs that did not let
Australia off the hook even as Adam Gilchrist,
buoyed by the previous innings, tried to break free
off the shackles. Only in two pivotal points did
Australia manage to overtake the South Africans in
the field.
With an already expensive Charl Langeveldt
substituted for Johan Botha, Smith ran out of
options as his other leading bowler this series,
Johan van der Wath, looked entirely uneasy and
virtually clueless in the final stages. It was a
shocker of a performance by South Africa's latest
pick, especially after an impressive start to his
career, and one that he must get over quickly, for
there isn't much time left for the next game.
Smith's successful bowling stint against Sri Lanka
gave him additional reason to bowl out his ten, but
Australia still chalked up a gigantic score on the
two paced pitch.
Ricky Ponting's half-century, and his brief
partnership with Damien Martyn proved the steadying
factor in the innings. Despite the bowling mishaps,
Smith and South Africa had dome pretty well to
restrict the Australians until Michael Hussey and
Andrew Symonds really turned it on in the last four
overs. Hussey's sixty-two off forty-four balls and
Symonds' cameo of sixty-five tightened the screws
on the visitors.
Smith, who bowled tidily, was clobbered by Symonds
in his final over. Van der Wath had a traumatic
time at the other end with Hussey slamming his
first four balls to the fence. The Australians were
rollicking thereafter and the death overs, with
Pollock having bowled out, were a nightmare despite
Andrew Hall's impressive composure.
A challenging total had turned colossal and South
Africa's fate seemed sealed when umpire Aleem Dar
raised the dreaded finger to adjudge Smith lbw to a
Brett Lee delivery that was definitely slipping
down the leg-side. Lee terrorized the southern
hemisphere rivals in their last meeting, but South
Africa's wounds this time round were largely
self-inflicted, with a couple of crucial decisions
also going against them.
Botha was sent ahead of the big three; Mark
Boucher, Shaun Pollock and Justin Kemp. But he
seemed unsure about the exact role he had been
assigned to play. He struggled to stay rooted to
the crease, as did his partners. The big three were
all victims of one destructive over from Lee in his
third spell, but the task was well beyond the
visitors already by that stage, with South Africa
needing more than ten runs an over to match the
ninety-eight runs that Australia raked in the last
ten overs.
Herschelle Gibbs tried a brief restoration, but
some strikingly uncharacteristic indecisiveness in
running between the wickets led to the run-out of
Jacques Rudolph out and with it, South Africa's
hopes to cement a place in the final with a
victory.
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