If the Sri Lanka selectors were hoping to use this three-day practice game as a guideline before they pick the squad for the first Test, which starts a week on Thursday, they got nowhere
Sa'adi Thawfeeq24-Jul-2006
Scorecard
AB de Villers on the attack during his fifty © AFP
AB de Villiers and Jacques Rudolph scored outstanding half-centuries as the South Africans batted till tea before making a token declaration, leaving Sri Lanka A an impossible task of chasing 549 runs for victory off 35 overs at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo. By stumps, as the game petered out to a draw, Sri Lanka A were 89 for 1.de Villiers and Jacques Rudolph got some good practice on the final day ahead of the first Test starting on Thursday . Compared to his first-innings cameo, when he blasted a 46-ball 50, de Villiers played a rather conventional role today, accumulating 75 off 106 balls, including 11 fours. An aggressive attempt led to his downfall, as he was bowled trying to take on Jehan Mubarak’s part-time offspin.”I am in the best form in a long time and I am playing very well at the moment. I am ready to take on Murali,” said de Villiers. “My balance is good and my wrist work very well. I look to work one or two balls around, especially against Murali, and [the tactic] has come off pretty well. It’s easier batting down the order in South African conditions. But it definitely is tough batting at No.6 in the subcontinent. Having all that responsibility down the order, I am coming in facing the old ball against Murali in full flight. It’s tough but I am ready for him at the moment.”I like to be positive against Murali. I was pretty positive against the spinners in this game. That is going to be my approach against him in the series. I’ve seen him crumble under pressure. I’ve seen batsmen taking him on going for like 80 in ten overs and they take him off. That is one way to tackle him. The other way is to work it around to take singles and taking the pressure off you. I will try and get the balance right there. Definitely the bad balls will have to go. You can’t let him bowl at you. I’ve seen him on TV plenty of times and I know exactly what he does. It’s a challenge, always a challenge.”de Villiers has not only a job as a No.6 batsman but also to fill in the bowling slot because Jacques Kallis is injured. “We have only four top bowlers and if you need someone to keep the run-rate down. I was told that they were going to use me in the Test. I bowled 100 overs this week to get fit to bowl.”Rudolph, who made a century on South Africa’s last visit, starred with a well compiled half-century to follow his first-innings knock of 157. Once he fell, South Africa declared at 245 for 8. It proved to be a useful workout with most of their top-order batsmen, with the exception of Herschelle Gibbs (38 and 10) and Boeta Dippenaar (1 and 25), getting into the groove.Mickey Arthur was satisfied with the way the practice game had turned out. “I couldn’t script the practice better. First we got stuck in and we batted nicely. Then we spent only 50 overs on the field yesterday. It was a pretty convincing display by everybody. We had another chance on a crumbling wicket against a class spinner in Upul Chandana who is a Test player. I thought he bowled very well. It was great practice for our guys. Then the bowlers got seven to eight overs under their belts today which was exactly what we wanted.”We could have declared earlier and gone for a win which would have been the way to go but at the end of the day we might have had bowlers having to bowl 15 to 16 overs and we’ve only got two days for the Test match. We wanted them to conserve their energies for the Test.”
