SOUTH AFRICA: India A crushed hosts South Africa A by an innings and 13 runs on the fourth and final day of the opening unofficial Test to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series, on Tuesday.
Indian bowlers continued their dominating show as they shot out South Africa for 212 in their second innings after making them follow on at Olympia Park.
Seam bowlers Mohammed Shami (3/29) and Ishwar Pandey (3/25) picked up three wickets each while part-time spinner Rohit Sharma scalped two wickets to fashion India’s crushing win over the hosts.
Middle-order batsman Temba Bavuma (65) was the top-scorer for South Africa in their second innings. His 138-ball innings was laced with six fours.
Resuming at overnight 312 for nine, Kyle Abbott (33 not out) and Andrew Birch (18) provided some late resistance before Suresh Raina had the latter trapped leg before to bring an end to South Africa’s first innings at 357.
After asking South Africa to follow on, India’s frontline quicks struck early with Pandey dismissing Reeza Hendricks (4) in the third ball of his first over.
Shami then struck twice in the sixth over, removing Dean Elgar (3) and J P Duminy (0) in the space of four deliveries.
Newman Rilee Rossouw tried to break the shackles and cracked three boundaries in the 10th over bowled by Shami. He was dismissed in the 20th over by Raina, who castled Rossouw’s timbers when the batsman went for a sweep shot.
Bavuma picked up a couple of boundaries in the 23rd over off Raina, while Ontong (19) hit two fours off Shami’s in the 25th over. But Shami came back strongly to clean up Ontong in the fourth delivery of the same over as South Africa slipped to 93 for five.
Pandey took his second wicket in the form of Tsolekile in the 35th over before Nadeem got rid off Wayne Parnell (10) as South Africa further slumped to 140 for seven in 41.4 overs.
At tea, South Africa needed another 84 runs to make India bat again with three second innings wickets in hand. Temba Bavuma and Simon Harmer were at the crease at the break.
After the interval, Bavuma started on a positive note, dispatching Nadeem through the mid-wicket and covers for a couple of boundaries.
Bavuma cracked another four off the left-arm spinner when he drove him through point and covers in the 48th over.
Part-time spinner Sharma was then introduced into the attack by Cheteshwar Pujara and the move worked as Bavuma (65) in pursuit of a pull shot hit it straight to the India skipper at mid-wicket.
Abbott (14) and Harmer (31 not out) tried to ease the mounting pressure with a couple of hits to the fence. Sharma came back for his second spell to dismiss Abbott when he induced an edge to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.
Birch then picked up a four off Sharma but Pandey cleaned up the batsman in the 67th over to complete India A’s deserving victory.
Scoreboard
India A 1st innings: 582 for 9 declared
South Africa A 1st innings:
R Hendricks c Saha b Unadkat 10 D Elgar lbw b Mohammed Shami 11
SR Harmer c Saha b Pandey 22
RR Rossouw lbw b Raina 57
JP Duminy c Saha b Raina 84
T Bavuma c Raina b Nadeem 0
JL Ontong c Saha b Pandey 47 TL Tsolekile c Dhawan b Pandey 47
Wayne Parnell c&b Pandey 0
KJ Abbott not out 33
ACR Birch lbw b Raina 18
Extras: (B-3, LB-9, W-6, PEN-10) 28
Total: (all out; 111.2 overs) 357
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-22, 3-94, 4-116, 5-119, 6-194, 7-280, 8-280, 9-312.
Bowling:
Jaydev Unadkat 21-6-53-1
Mohammed Shami 16-2-53-1
Shahbaz Nadeem 32-5-115-1
Ishwar Pandey 19-6-46-4
Suresh Raina 13.2-3-40-3
Rohit Sharma 10-1-28-0
South Africa A 2nd innings (following on):
RR Hendricks b Pandey 4
D Elgar lbw b Mohammed Shami 3
RR Rossouw b Raina 34
JP Duminy lbw b Mohammed Shami 0
T Bavuma c Pujara b Sharma 65
JL Ontong b Mohammed Shami 19
TL Tsolekile b Pandey 23
Wayne Parnell c Dhawan b Nadeem 10
SR Harmer not out 31
K Abbott c Saha b Sharma 14
A Birch b Pandey 4
Extras: (B-1, LB-3, w-1) 5
Total: (all out; 66.5 overs) 212
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-15, 3-15, 4-60, 5-93, 6-123, 7-140, 8-166, 9-198.
Bowling:
Ishwar Pandey 9.5-2-25-3
Mohammed Shami 10-3-33-3
Jaydev Unadkat 10-1-27-0
Suresh Raina 12-1-39-1
Shahbaz Nadeem 17-2-65-1
Rohit Sharma 8-3-19-2.
