Anderson blows Proteas away

England fast bowler destroys South Africa’s batting order to take series lead.

James Anderson
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Man-of-the-match James Anderson celebrates yet another wicket [GALLO/GETTY]

James Anderson took a career-best five for 23 to set up a convincing England win against South Africa at St. George’s Park Stadium, putting the tourists 2-1 up in the series with only one more match to play.

Anderson’s commanding performance helped England bowl South Africa out for just 119 in under 37 overs and inspired a seven-wicket victory in the fourth one-day international.

South Africa have one chance left to level the series in the final match in Durban on Friday.

Shaky start

South African-born openers Trott (52 not out) and Andrew Strauss (32) also starred with the bat as England won with almost 19 overs left.

Strauss became the first victim of offspinner Johan Botha’s two wickets when the ball hit his pad off an attempted cut shot and he was adjudged lbw.

Strauss faced 59 balls and hit six fours.

Botha struck again within five balls as he induced Kevin Pietersen on 3 to flick a ball straight to AB de Villiers at midwicket. Botha finished with 2-22, while Ryan McLaren found in-form Paul Collingwood’s outside edge for a catch behind.

Collingwood’s departure for 2 meant England had lost 3-9 in five overs, but Trott and Eoin Morgan (28 not out off 40 balls) steered the visitors home. Trott hit seven fours in 77 balls, while Morgan reached the boundary five times.

South Africa’s innings started badly, with Smith lasting just four balls before he was trapped in front for 2 by Stuart Broad in the second over.

The England seamers, making use of overcast conditions, struck three more times in the first 14 overs. The visitors put pressure on the batsmen by keeping the runs down and gained more success.

Hashim Amla, trying to force the pace off Anderson, turned one straight to
Graeme Swann at short midwicket. Amla, coming off successive half-centuries at Centurion and Newlands, scored 11 off 22 balls with two fours.

Anderson also bagged the wickets of JP Duminy, Mark Boucher, McLaren and Botha.

Duminy gloved a ball down leg-side to wicketkeeper Matt Prior for 6, Boucher was beaten off the pitch by a beauty to be bowled for 13, and McLaren chipped one to Paul Collingwood at point and was out for his second duck in two games.

Botha was caught behind for 1, as Anderson completed his 10 overs by the
27th over of the innings.

Good pitch

Fourth ODI scorecard

South Africa innings

H Amla c Swann b Anderson 11
G Smith lbw b Broad 2
A de Villiers lbw b Bresnan 22
JP Duminy c Prior b Anderson 6
A Petersen c Wright b Broad 51
M Boucher b Anderson 13
R McLaren c Collingwood b Anderson 0
J Botha c Prior b Anderson 1
W Parnell c Strauss b Collingwood 1
M Morkel lbw b Collingwood 7
C Langeveldt not out 0
Extras (w-5) 5
Total 119
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-24, 3-35, 4-55, 5-78, 6-78, 7-84, 8-92, 9-112, 10-119.

England innings

J Trott not out 52
A Strauss lbw b Botha 32
K Pietersen c De Villiers b Botha 3
P Collingwood c Boucher b McLaren 2
E Morgan not out 28
Extras (lb-1, w-3) 4
Total 121
Fall of wickets: 1-74, 2-80, 3-83.

With a bit of help from the pitch and showing good discipline, the England bowlers were well marshalled by Strauss to kill any hopes of a repeat of South Africa’s batting masterclass in scoring 354-6 at Newlands two days ago.

Anderson, who won the man-of-the-match award, said having a pitch that helped the bowlers had made a difference at St. George’s Park Stadium.

“You couldn’t bowl short in Cape Town, the wicket was flat. Here we bowled good lines but we had a wicket which helped us,” he said.

Proteas captain Graeme Smith said his side had not assessed the conditions well enough at the start of the game, and that a score of 230 or 240 might have been defendable on a pitch that was two-paced and had a bit of up-and-down bounce.

“No-one put in the hard yards with the bat,” Smith said.

Anderson claimed 3-6 in his four-over second spell, and the hapless Proteas added only six runs for the loss of three wickers between the 21st and 27th overs.

Alviro Petersen hit 51 for his third straight half-century, adding to his 64 at Centurion and 51 not out at Newlands. He started with the score on 35-3 and hit five fours before being the last man out, well caught at mid-on by a leaping Luke Wright.

The only other batsman to score more than 13 was De Villiers, the Proteas’ century-maker from Friday. He managed only 22 off 36 balls with four boundaries until he was trapped in front by Tim Bresnan.

Of the other England bowlers, Broad finished with 2-30 after also dismissing Petersen. Collingwood claimed 2-20 to take his ODI tally to 101 wickets.

Source: AP