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December 31, 2009

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Home » Sports » Cricket

England drubs Proteas by an innings

Source: Agencies | December 31, 2009, Thursday | Print Edition

SOUTH Africa will not be panicked into making sweeping changes after its innings defeat to England yesterday, captain Graeme Smith said.

England bowled South Africa out for 133 in its second innings to complete an innings and 98-run win in Durban and take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.

After a remarkable 2008, in which it won 11 of its 15 tests and took first place in the world rankings, South Africa has lost four of its six tests this year.

"It's clear in our heads what we need to look at, those areas in which we are not up to standard. It's obviously been a disappointing year and we have not lived up to the hype of 2008," Smith told a news conference.

"We reached a certain point, but we haven't been able to take it to the next level. We need to look at why we haven't done that, we need to reassess and make 2010 a better year.

"But it's important to take the emotion out of the decision making. We've now got a crucial test coming up in Cape Town and we need to make the right decisions to win that game.

"It's important to have a wakeup call, we were outplayed and it just wasn't good enough, but it was one collapse and, as disappointing as it is, I'm not a big believer in calling for mass changes."

England offspinner Graeme Swann claimed five wickets for the second time this series as the hosts added just 57 runs before losing their last four wickets just 70 minutes into the final day's play.

Swann finished off the match by trapping tailender Dale Steyn LBW for three runs to finish with figures of 5-45 and claim the man of the match award for the second time in the series.

Swann has taken 14 wickets in the first two tests.

South Africa staggered to 76-6 by stumps on the fourth day needing 156 runs to make England bat a second time.

England's first success of the morning came after just 11 balls when Swann forced Morne Morkel back onto his stumps and trapped him in front for 15 with a quicker ball. Morkel had batted grittily for 51 minutes starting on Tuesday afternoon and hit three fours.

Next to go was the last recognized batsman Mark Boucher, giving seamer Stuart Broad his fourth wicket of the innings.

Boucher gloved the ball down leg to wicketkeeper Matt Prior, but England had to wait for third umpire Steve Davis to call it out after on field umpire Amiesh Saheba originally called it not. Boucher's 29, with three fours, came in 91 minutes.

Paul Harris batted for an hour to make 36, the highest score of the innings. He hit five fours and was the ninth man out when he mistimed a flick to the leg-side off James Anderson and was caught by Broad (4-43) at mid-on.

Eight balls later Swann struck the final blow by getting Steyn.

England captain Andrew Strauss described his team's crushing victory as one of the best away wins he had experienced.

"It's as emphatic a win away from home as we've had since I've been involved," Strauss said. "Pretty much everything we wanted to do, we did. They never got away from us, we hit them hard early with both bat and ball, and then put the runs on the board to have them under pressure.

"It's a case of keeping things simple and doing the hard work and we've come a long way in the last 12 months. It's great to end the year on a real high."

Strauss inherited the captaincy after the relationship between former coach Peter Moores and previous skipper Kevin Pietersen broke down. He said the team's current success showed that relationships within the team had now been mended.

"We've embraced the change and enjoyed each other's success.

"We've achieved because we stick together in the tough times," Strauss said.

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