da betano casino： Jacques Kallis, the South Africa captain, was proud of the way his side came through a testing run chase against India at Stormont
Andrew McGlashan at Stormont26-Jun-2007
Sachin Tendulkar fell for 99 © Getty Images
Jacques Kallis, the South Africa captain, was proud of the way his side came through a testingrun chase against India at Stormont. He anchored the pursuit with a116-ball 91, but received vital support from Vernon Philander in thematch-winning seventh-wicket stand of 55.”I thought it was a competitive score then once we got a good startthat set the base for us,” he said. “The key here is getting throughthe new ball, the openers played pretty well then we just neededsomeone to bat through and guys to bat around him to get close tothem. Vernon did extremely well there at the end to finish it off.”The chase was shaping up well at 99 for 1, but then Rahul Dravidbrought on his spinners which cut through the middle orderand brought India right back into the contest. “It was the nature ofthe wicket – it just got slower and slower as the innings went on,” Kallis said. “We tried to do the same thing towards the back end of our innings [take the pace off] but certainly the spinners did come into play and bowled pretty well to put the pressure on us.”South Africa made two changes from their win over Ireland on Sundaywith the experienced pair of Andrew Hall and Andre Nel coming into theside. However, it was still a relatively inexperienced side andKallis was full of praise for the way they handled the situationdespite the lack of cricket since the World Cup.”We came in very cold and for the guys to play the type of cricketthey did today was very impressive,” said Kallis who was also delightedwith his Man of the Match form. “It was nice to get some runs andwickets again to carry on the form from the World Cup and hopefullythat will continue for the rest of the week.”After excelling with the ball against Ireland with 4 for 12, Philandershowed a level-head with the bat. When he came in South Africa stillneeded 53, but he calmly partnered Kallis to the final-over win.”To come in and perform the way he has shows big character. He’s doneit back home in domestic cricket, finishing off a lot of games for theCape Cobras and today he did it at the highest level. He’ll gain a lotof confidence and he’s setting himself some high standards tomaintain.”India did well to put up such a strong performance considering thevirus which has been running through their camp for the last few days.They managed to field a strong eleven, but some of the players werestill struggling, and Dravid admitted Kallis’ innings was thedifference.”There were aspects of the game we were quite happy with, not leastthe fact that a lot of the guys were still not 100% right,” saidDravid. “They went out there, tried their best and fought really hard.There were some good performances with bat and ball and it was a closegame.”It was just a little frustrating that having played some good cricketwe couldn’t pip them at the post. Kallis was the wicket we needed butwe just couldn’t get it.”South Africa are going to spend a day playing golf on Wednesday whilethe Indians will, no doubt, be dosing up on the cold and flu remedies.The second match of the series takes place on Friday.