Date-stamped : 25 Jul94 - 10:27 South Africa v England, Test 1, Lord's, 21-25 Jul 94 South Africa won the toss and batted first. South Africa won by 356 runs. ====> Day 2, 22 Jul 94 Stumps day 1: SA 244/6 (McMillan 1*, Richardson 2*) Stumps day 2: SA 357, England 141/7 (Salisbury 3*, DeFreitas 0*) South Africa took control of the test match on the second day after honours had been more or less even on the first day. Resum- ing at 244/7, the South African tail wagged effectively as the last 4 wickets added 113 runs in almost even time. With Brian McMillan anchoring the tail, first Richardson and then Matthews attacked the fairly wayward English bowling. Matthews recorded his highest test score of 41 which he scored off only 36 balls. Once McMillan was out the innings ended fairly quickly and South Africa were all out shortly after the lunch interval, their score of 357 being their highest ever at Lord's. England started their innings briskly and were scoring at over 5 runs an over when Stewart received a ball from Donald which de- flected off the toe of the bat and into the stumps. Somewhat un- lucky for Stewart maybe, but he did seem to be beaten for pace. John Crawley joined Atherton at the crease but didn't have a memorable debut innings. He edged a De Villiers delivery to Hud- son at second slip who accepted the catch with a bit of a juggle. With England at 41/2, they needed somebody to stick around and Atherton and Hick looked as if they might do just that. They took the score to 68 before Donald bowled a perfect away-swinger to Atherton who was forced to play the ball but only succeeded in edging it to Wessels at first slip. Tea was taken with the score at 72/3 and Gooch and Hick at the crease. The last session of the day was the most absorbing one of the match so far as England tried to hold out against the four pronged pace attack which had tightened up considerably since the opening overs of the innings. De Villiers' away-swinger was work- ing beautifully and Donald was bowling as fast as he has in a long time. The innings now revolved around Graham Gooch. England just couldn't afford to lose him cheaply. Gooch and Hick batted positively after tea and scored 40 runs at almost a run a minute. Hick was the more aggressive of the two, hitting some good cover drives for four while Gooch started accumulating runs in his usu- al style. Then De Villiers struck and trapped Gooch lbw for just 20 runs and England must have had thoughts of that follow-on to- tal of 158 which suddenly seemed so far away. The loss of Gooch prompted Hick to go into his shell and only a handful of runs were scored in the next hour. The South African bowlers were ram- pant in the last hour and they reduced England to 141/7 at the close with Hick, Rhodes and White losing their wickets in rapid succession. De Villiers and Donald took three wickets apiece, Brian McMillan picked up the other one. So, South Africa are in control at the close of the second day and England are still 17 runs short of the follow-on total with just 3 wickets remaining. Contributed by Frank.Sokolic (sokolic@*.und.ac.za) ====> Day 3, 23 Jul 94 Stumps day 3: SA 357, England 180 SA 195/4 (P Kirsten 40*, Rhodes 23*) South Africa employed their familiar tactic of trying to grind the opposition out of the game before going for the victory. The day started with England still needing 17 runs to avoid the follow-on and they managed this through some aggressive batting by DeFreitas and Gough. DeFreitas came out as if he was facing the last few balls of a limited overs match and belted 20 runs in just 10 balls. This took England safely past their immediate target of 158 but DeFreitas' batting was always going to give the bowlers a chance. Donald picked up his 4th wicket of the innings as DeFreitas slashed at a ball outside the off stump and edged it to Wessels at first slip. Gough also set about scoring runs quickly but he became the 5th Donald victim when he was snapped up by Donald on his follow through. A good effort by Donald, diving forward to catch the ball centimetres from the ground. Last man in was Angus Fraser. He played a ball through mid-on and set off for what should have been three easy runs. Gary Kirsten chased after the ball, picked up and threw down the stumps with a direct throw from about 30 metres out leaving Fraser well short of the crease. So, South Africa held a 177 run lead on the first innings after bowling England out 40 minutes into the third day. England made an early breakthrough, courtesy of Darren Gough who trapped Hudson plumb lbw. For Hudson this will be a test to forget as in two completed innings he only managed 9 runs. Hansie Cronje looked in good nick and together with Gary Kirsten took the score to 50/1 at the lunch interval. South Africa were pinned down by England in the session after lunch as they scored only 62 runs and lost two wickets in the process. Cronje seemed to be finding form again and made an attractive looking 32 before hooking a ball down the throat of Angus Fraser at fine leg. Wessels joined Gary Kirsten and together they grafted for their runs against the England spinners, Hick and Salisbury, who were both getting turn. Hick troubled both the left handed batsmen on occasions and eventually frustrated Gary Kirsten into charging down the wicket and getting stumped. Steven Rhodes made a very good stumping as he first had to gather in the ball which was heading off towards first slip. This was a good period for England and they applied pressure on Wessels and newcomer Peter Kirsten with a number of fielders in close catching positions. Tea was taken with the score on 112/3. Hick and Salisbury, who had bowled for the 30 minutes before tea, continued after the break and it was Salisbury who made the breakthrough when Crawley picked up a bat/pad chance offered by Wessels. Wessels wasn't too impressed with the decision and the tv replay showed that he had reason to feel aggrieved. Jonty Rhodes and Peter Kirsten saw out the remainder of the session as South Africa ended the day on 195/4. This gives them a lead of 372 runs over England with 6 wickets and two days play in hand. Contributed by Frank.Sokolic (sokolic@*.und.ac.za) ====> Day 4, 24 Jul 94 England were destroyed in their second innings as South Africa swept to an emphatic 356 run victory with over a day to spare. South Africa, starting the day with a 372 run lead, batted through to the lunch interval when they declared with their score on 278/8. The first hour of play belonged to Darren Gough as he bowled both Peter Kirsten and Jonty Rhodes with in- swinging yorkers. It was good stuff from Gough who was easily the best En- glish bowler in this test. Richardson and didn't last long and it was left to Brian McMillan and Craig Matthews to see South Africa through to the 450 run lead they were looking for. Matthews once again scored good runs in the lower order and McMillan added a 39* to his first innings 29. Wessels declared the innings closed at the fall of Matthews' wicket, setting Eng- land a target of 456 runs in 5 sessions. England started their innings cautiously but were on the back foot from the moment De Villiers found the edge of Atherton's bat, McMillan taking a good catch at second slip. None of the En- glish batsmen could get going against the four South African pace bowlers and wickets fell at regular intervals. By tea England were 57/3 with Atherton, Crawley and Hick back in the pavilion. Crawley once again gave Hudson catching practice at slip and this time Hudson made the catch look a lot easier than he did in the first innings. Hick can consider himself a touch unlucky to be given out lbw. From my vantage point in front my tv here in Dur- ban it seemed as if the ball was slipping down the leg side. Any- way, three wickets down at tea wasn't what England would have wished for and they must have been hoping that Stewart and Gooch could do something miraculous to save the match. Things turned into a procession after the tea interval as England lost 5 wickets for just 25 runs. Matthews found himself on a hat trick 25 minutes into the last session as he dismissed Stewart and White in successive balls. Stewart was caught behind by Richardson and the very next ball was edged by White to Wessels at first slip. And so it continued as South Africa realised the test was theirs for the taking on the evening of the fourth day. Gooch was out plumb lbw to a ball from Donald which was unplay- able, DeFreitas was well caught by Gary Kirsten at short leg, Darren Gough retired hurt after being struck on the forearm by Donald, Salisbury and Fraser were out lbw to Donald and and McMillan respectively. All out for 99 and victory to South Africa by 356 runs, their biggest ever against England. To me it seemed as if South Africa had come to Lord's to win the test match whereas England had merely come to play another game of cricket. South Africa played as a unit throughout the game and the victory was achieved through teamwork more than anything else. This was very obvious in the last two sessions of the game when the four pace bowlers all chipped in with wickets and the fielders kept the game extremely tight and didn't give anything way even though they had 455 runs to play with. Highlights of the game for me were: - Kepler Wessels scoring 105 in the first innings - Allan Donald taking 5/74 in the England first innings - Darren Gough bowling Peter Kirsten and Jonty Rhodes with york- ers in the South African second innings. - the wagging of the South African tail on the morning of the second day - hearing the BBC test match special broadcasts for the first time on crystal clear FM instead of on shortwave. Contributed by Frank.Sokolic (sokolic@*.und.ac.za)