McKenzie's Century Helps SA to Draw first test!

The first test ends in a draw on the 5th day in Chepauk, MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. McKenzie played a crucial innings again scoring a century this time. He missed the century in the first innings but didn't make the mistake this time. He went beyond 150 in the 2nd innings to take this test to a draw!

Resuming the day at 131 for 1, the first hour was crucial for both the teams. If India succeded in getting erly break-throughs, it would have been tougher on the tourists. But, Amla, the man in form along with McKenzie played both Kumble and Harbhajan very well to bring another 150 run partnership in this test. Though McKenzie was dropped by Sreesanth in the deep square leg, the partnership was growing until Kumble produced a delivery that bounced and hit the edge and went to the hands of Dravid in the slip. Though India took wickets of Kallis for 19, Prince for 5, and de Villiers for 11, it seemed tough to take all the wickets of South Africa in time.

McKenzie was not out on 155 off 339 balls with 13 fours and a six and Amla scored 81 off 148 balls with 9 fours. These two have batted out 81.1 overs of the 123 overs SA had to bat.

Kumble's effort of trying VVS Laxman to bowl 10 overs and couple of overs from Ganguly did not help.

Kallis has to find his form immediately to help South Africa to further strengthen their batting line up. He failed in both the innings and is important that he scores in the next two games.

Shewag for his record breaking 319 was adjudged man of the match, though Amla and McKenzie contributed in both the innings.

Final Score:

Toss: South Africa

Result: Match Drawn

Man of the Match: Shewag (India)

Venue: Chennai, India

Date: March 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 2008

Captain: Smith (SA), Kumble (India)

Score:

South Africa 1st Innings 540 allout in 152.5 overs (Smith 74, McKenzie 94, Amla 159, deVilliers 44, Boucher 70, Morkel 35, Kumble 2 for 106, Harbhajan 5 for 164)

India 1st Innings 627 allout in 155.1 overs (Shewag 319, Jaffer 73; Dravid 111, VVS Laxman 39, Steyn 4 for 103, Nitni 3 for 128, Harris 3 for 203)

South Africa 2nd Innings 331 for 4 declared in 109 overs (McKenzie 155 not out, Smith 35, Amla 81, Harbhajan 3 for 101)

Day 1 belongs to SA!

What a crucial toss to win for South Africa in the first test in Chennai? I am sure skipper Smith should be happy that he won the toss and made the right decision to bat. The pitch looks in favor of batsman for the first 2 to 2.5 days and then for spinners. Well, if that is the case, SA is playing with only one specialized spinner though Smith can roll his arm.

Smith and McKenzie handled the new ball well and used the wicket that helped the batsman. They both scored 50 and started the series in style. This is the first hundred run partnership of the series.

The ball was coming on to bat nicely and the pitch didn't help neither Sreesanth nor RP Singh. The pacers tried their best, but didn't succeed in taking wickets. All the 4 wickets that fell today went to spinners.

The break-through was as usual given by the skipper Kumble, who dismissed the counter-part. When he tried to drive the ball to mid-on, but gets beaten by the flight and the ball hits the bat at the top and flew to mid-wicket and Laxman took a simple catch.

The 2nd wicket between McKenzie and Amla crossed 50, but McKenzie missed to score his hundred by 6 runs. He was dismissed by a flight straight delivery off Harbhajan which took the edge when McKenzie tried to defend expecting a turn. Dravid made no mistake on this simple catch to dismiss him for 94 and he was disappointed having missed a good opportunity to score a century.

Kallis, the experienced person in the side didn't last long. He was out for 13 off Harbhajan. The flighted delivery took the inside edge, bumped from the pads and went straight to Jaffer in short-leg. Though the umpire didn't give out, Kallis walked himself to relieve Harbhajan from the shock of poor decision by the umpire.

What a catch by Kumble, leading by example, to dismiss Prince. The googly was driven back to the bowler in the air and Kumble dived to his left to grab beautiful one-handed catch.

Amla is still in the crease looking dangerous for the Indians. He is batting on 85 and will be looking for his 4th test hundred.

At the end of day 1, South Africa was 304 for 4.
Short Score:
Toss: South Africa
Venue: Chennai, India
Date: March 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 2008
Captain: Smith (SA), Kumble (India)
Score:
South Africa 304 for 4 in 90 overs (Smith 74, McKenzie 94, Amla 85 batting, Kumble 2 for 61, Harbhajan 2 for 92)