Cronje establishes batting milestone
Bloemfontein (South Africa) There are those who have loftily accused Hansie Cronje of having the batting technique of an honest journeyman but lacking in flair and then pass on without giving the dismissive comment a second thought
Trevor Chesterfield
31-Oct-1999
Bloemfontein (South Africa) There are those who have loftily accused
Hansie Cronje of having the batting technique of an honest journeyman
but lacking in flair and then pass on without giving the dismissive
comment a second thought. Which is the sort of smug, supercilious
attitude you pick up in the sparsely inhabited bars in this part of
the country: with South Africa booted out of another World Cup event,
and in the semi-finals, looking for someone to blame for the folly of
ineptitude in another sport arena in another hemisphere is a typical
response.
Cronje is his own man, has his own style and it is far better than
most at what he does, his batting has its own style, flair and wealth
in character and it was on display at Goodyear Park yesterday as South
Africa took control of this first Test against Zimbabwe. An innings of
60 not out as South Africa reached 253 for four in reply to the
visitors 192 is, so far, a fair response. Admittedly it is not
now an imposing total and much rests with the South African captain
tomorrow just how far they can stretch their lead of 61. In
partnership with Jonty Rhodes, merrily dancing his way to 24, South
Africas captain will be anxious to plunder a seventh Test century
and lay the foundation to a match-winning total.
It was early in his innings when Cronje became South Africa?s
leading Test run-scorer, beating a record held by Bruce Mitchell of
3471 runs and at the close had advanced his career total to 3525 and
should, at some stage this summer become the first South African to
breach the 4000 mark. So much for the critics
While bad light and the threat of a late afternoon shower or two cut
short play by a mere 4.1 overs and what had been a small Saturday
afternoon crowd had long departed to deposit itself in front of
television sets around the city of roses, hence the term bloem
(flower) to watch their rugby side go the way of most mortals and
plunge towards defeat (?See the tear in my eye, guys.?), the
South African captain indulged in some solid strokeplay. It may not
have been exciting, or pulsating either the way the limited Zimbabwe
attack did their best to strangle their opponents of a more steady run
supply, but there is no doubt it was highly effective. He had already
seen Jacques Kallis depart to a doubtful lbw decision, awarded by New
Zealand?s Steve Dunne for 64, and earlier watched as Daryll
Cullinan gave it away, throttled by negative tactics into cutting too
loosely to Grant Flower off Guy Whittall, Zimbabwe?s all-round hero
who barely 24 hours before had rescued his side from embarrassment.
Kallis later admitted he was unsure whether he managed to get bat on
ball, but there were two distinct noises and although TV replays of
the incident were not conclusive, instinct told there may have been
bat on ball. Dunne has been heavily criticised for decisions given in
Sharjah, especially during the Pakistan-Sri Lanka final, yet it is
often the umpire?s human error touch which makes the game it is:
full of uncertainty and fallible judgements. Boeta Dippenaar, in his
debut Test inning may have also felt a touch robbed when reaching 20
he was also an lbw victim to a delivery more likely to have gone over
the stumps.
No matter, Kallis had that solid appearance of a batsman determined on
working the ball around the field and while there were only nine
boundaries during his exercise of 274 minutes, he had least knew what
he was about. There were times when he challenged the bowlers to
bounce him, or try and get in a yorker. The Zimbabwe attack, though,
has no one so threatening. Which, as humble as it is, forced their
captain, Alistair Campbell instructing the bowlers to keep it tight
and outside the off and force the batsmen into mistakes. It is a ploy
which can work but as Shaun Pollock showed on the Friday, wickets are
there for the taking if you bowl straight and make the batsmen play
attacking strokes. A mere lesson in strategy which others should apply
if they wish to be as successful as the red-headed South African
vice-captain was on the first day.