p16_Layout 1 12/20/14 10:25 PM Page 1 SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2014 SPORTS Steyn rips through Windies PRETORIA: Dale Steyn ripped through the a groin problem but showed no signs of West Indies top order to claim his 25th five- discomfort as he steamed in to skittle the wicket haul in test cricket and give South West Indies top order in a spell that lasted Africa an innings and 220-run victory on 90 minutes. the fourth morning of the first test yester- The loss of Leon Johnson (39) and day. The West Indies’ frailties with the bat Shivnarine Chanderpaul (four) early left the were cruelly exposed by the top-ranked West Indies in trouble, but their situation South Africans, with Steyn leading the became a hopeless one when Marlon charge as he finished with six for 34 having Samuels looped up a catch for Dean Elgar gone wicketless in the first innings. The visi- off a rampant Steyn with his score on 17. tors resumed in the morning session on 76 Captain Denesh Ramdin (four), who had for two in their second innings, still trailing called for greater grit and application from by 275 runs, with hopes of batting deep the batsmen in the lead-up to the test, last- into the day to save the test. ed just two balls as Steyn claimed his But a fired-up Steyn sparked a preces- fourth by inducing an edge off the shoul- sion of wickets as the West Indies were der of the bat to a leaping De Villiers. bowled out for 131, unable to cope with The game was up for the tourists and the hostility of the home quicks. Steyn picked up the final two wickets, with “We didn’t expect it to finish so early, Kyle Abbott taking an easy catch off but Dale bowled exceptionally well to get Sheldon Cottrell at mid-wicket to end the us started and the wicket got difficult to match with bowler Kemar Roach not bat- bat on,” Proteas captain Hashim Amla, who ting in the innings as he rests his injured was adjudged Man of the Match for his ankle. 208, said at the post-match presentation. “In the first innings when we batted we He also gave credit to AB de Villiers, his showed some signs of partnerships with partner in a South African record fourth- our guys getting starts but we couldn’t car- wicket partnership of 308 and the player ry them on,” Ramdin said. who also donned the gloves with regular “We need to show a lot of character to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock injured on give them a fight and hopefully we can day three. take some positives out of this match and “Having AB in the team is a great bless- do something special in the other games.” ing, he is a wonderful fielder, a great bats- The West Indies were bowled out twice man and he even bowls a bit these days. He in the test in just under 103 overs, leaving is also our spare keeper and he showed his them with much to contemplate ahead of class with the gloves on,” Amla said. Steyn the second test in Port Elizabeth that starts had limped off on the third afternoon with on Boxing day.—Reuters SCOREBOARD CENTURION, South Africa: Final scores on the fourth day of the first Test between South Africa and the West Indies at SuperSport Park in Centurion yesterday: South Africa, first innings, 552-5 dec S. Cottrell c Morkel b Steyn 4 BRISBANE: India’s Shikhar Dhawan plays a shot during their play on day four of the second cricket Test against Australia. —AP West Indies, first innings, 201 K. Roach absent injured West Indies, second innings (overnight 76-2) Extras (lb3, nb1, w4) 8 K. Brathwaite c Petersen b Morkel 20 Total (42.3 overs) 131 D. Smith c sub (Bavuma) b Philander 5 Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Smith), 2-52 (Brathwaite), 3- Magic Johnson inspires L. Johnson c De Villiers b Steyn 39 87 (Johnson), 4-91 (Chanderpaul), 5-101 M. Samuels c Elgar b Steyn 17 (Samuels), 6-105 (Ramdin), 7-117 (Blackwood), 8- S. Chanderpaul c De Villiers b Steyn 4 Bowling: Steyn 8.2-2-34-6, Morkel 11.1-1-43-2 J. Blackwood c sub (Bavuma) b Morkel 15 (1w), Philander 7-4-6-1 (inb), Abbott 3-0-11-0 Australia to Gabba win D. Ramdin c De Villiers b Steyn 4 (1w), Van Zyl 10-2-22-0 (2w), Elgar 3-0-12-0. J. Taylor c Amla b Steyn 9 Result: South Africa won by an innings and S. Benn not out 6 220 runs BRISBANE: Mitchell Johnson inspired balls. “I thought today’s first session was behind off Johnson for 30 to end the Australia to a four-wicket win over India to very crucial and I don’t think we handled it innings. Wicketkeeper Brad Haddin finished take a 2-0 series-lead with a day to spare in really well,” skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni with three catches for the innings and nine the second Gabba Test yesterday. said. for the match. The Australians lost David The ICC Cricketer of the Year condemned “If we had got a decent partnership Warner (6), Shane Watson (0), Rogers (55), India to defeat with a hostile spell of three for going and got a few more runs then we Shaun Marsh (17), Steve Smith (28) and Brad 10 in the space of 11 balls, ripping the heart could have exploited the conditions Haddin (1) on the way to victory with out of the tourists’ top order in the morning more, but it was the morning session that Warner getting a painful blow on the left session. had a big impact on the game.” Pacemen thumb in Yadav’s first over. Johnson snared four wickets for 61 off 17.3 Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc com- Team officials said that Warner had not overs as Australia dismissed India for 224 and pounded India’s woes with the wickets of suffered a fracture, raising his chances of were left needing 128 runs for victory. The skipper Dhoni (0) and Ravichandran Ashwin being fit for the third Test in the four-match hosts made getting the job done difficult (19) to leave the tourists hanging on. series, starting in Melbourne on Boxing Day. despite veteran opener Chris Rogers’ sec- Pujara was out just before lunch for 43, India were critical of the state of practice ond half-century of the match. caught by Nathan Lyon off a short ball from wickets with Dhawan and Kohli both hurt in At the close, Australia were 130 for six Hazlewood. the morning hit-up before play. with Mitchell Marsh hitting the winning Dhawan, who returned to bat later in the The tourists said they had been asking for runs and finishing six not out with Johnson morning, skilfully farmed the strike with fresh net practice wickets for two days on two. Umesh Yadav, but the stubborn partnership instead of using the worn-out strips that had The victory continued Australia’s formi- ended, together with India’s hopes of an uneven bounce, but they said ground dable record at “fortress” Gabba where they mounting a lead big enough to defend, officials had been preparing new practice have not lost a Test since 1988. Johnson fol- when Dhawan attempted an audacious wickets for upcoming matches. Queensland lowed up his game-changing knock of 88 sweep shot off spinner Lyon only to be Cricket later tweeted: “Australians say no off 93 balls in Australia’s first innings with a trapped leg before wicket. problems with them (practice wickets) and dynamic spell of fast bowling to power his Varun Aaron then skied Lyon to curator says they mirror exact state of the team to victory. Hazlewood for three and Yadav was caught Test pitch in middle”. —AFP Steve Smith, captaining Australia for the PRETORIA: West Indies batsman Devon Smith plays an LBW delivery from South first time since replacing the injured Africa’s bowler Vernon Philander on the third day of their first cricket Test match at Michael Clarke, was named man of the SCOREBOARD Centurion Park. —AP match with his 133 in the first innings. “Mitch certainly did it today for us with BRISBANE, Australia: Scoreboard at the close on the fourth day of the second Test between Australia and that little spell. He cracked the game open India in Brisbane yesterday: Morgan replaces Cook as for us. All the bowlers produced the goods India 1st innings 408 (M. Vijay 144, A. Rahane 81; J. Bowling: Johnson 17.3-4-61-4 (1nb, 5w), Hazlewood in this game,” Smith said. Hazlewood 5-68) 16-0-74-2 (1nb), Starc 8-1-27-2, Watson 13-6-27-0, England World Cup captain “It was just amazing the way that Mitch Australia 1st innings 505 (S. Smith 133, M. Johnson Lyon 10-1-33-2 came out yesterday and took the bowlers 88; U. Yadav 3-101, I. Sharma 3-117) on from ball one was outstanding. That was India 2nd innings (overnight 71 for 1) Australia 2nd innings LONDON: Eoin Morgan has replaced the ed the need to give Cook full support as a big turning point in the game, to get that M. Vijay b Starc 27 C. Rogers c Dhawan b I. Sharma 55 out-of-form Alastair Cook as England’s one of the reasons behind its decision to partnership there with Mitch.” S.