South Africa batsmen plunder T&T attack

ST AUGUSTINE, Trinidad (CMC):

Four batsman hit half-centuries and two others fell narrowly short, as South Africa's batsmen made full use of their two-day, practice match against Trinidad & Tobago yesterday.

Alviro Petersen, opening the batting, led the way with 65, AB de Villiers scored 53, J.P. Duminy made 51 and Mark Boucher was not out on 51, as South Africa, choosing to bat, reached 347 for four at the close on the opening day of the match at the Frank Worrell Memorial Ground.

There was also a solid contribution of 44 from bearded batting wonder, Hashim Amla, and South Africa captain Graeme Smith also got 41, as the visitors carved up the helpless T&T bowling attack, which was not helped by a lifeless pitch.

Smith and Petersen posted 72 for the first wicket before the Proteas captain was run out, when he failed to beat Lendl Simmons' throw from the deep to the 'keeper.

Amla joined Petersen and carried South Africa to lunch on 133 for one, with both batsmen unbeaten on 44.

Amla, however, retired during the interval and de Villiers partnered Petersen to the middle on resumption.

They were just getting into the swing of things when West Indies Under-19 leg-spinner, Yannic Carriah, had Petersen caught. The South African opener batted for 139 minutes, faced 87 balls and struck nine fours and one six.

Ashwell Prince joined de Villiers, but failed to make use of the conditions and was caught at slip off by Dave Mohammed.

Shortly after de Villers retired out, after spending nearly two hours at the crease in which time he smote three fours and a six from 102 balls.

Duminy and Boucher continued to plunder the T&T attack before Duminy retired, following an innings that included five fours from 72 balls in just under an hour-and-a-half.

Boucher proceeded to his landmark and finished with five fours and one six from 81 balls in 85 minutes.

The South Africans are using the game to tune-up for the first Test against West Indies, starting on Thursday at Queen's Park Oval, after they swept West Indies 5-0 in the preceding one-day international series.

The match was relocated to T&T, following civil unrest in Kingston, Jamaica.

SCOREBOARD

SOUTH AFRICA 1st Innings

G. Smith run out (Simmons) 41A. Petersen c Stewart b Cariah 65H. Amla retired out 44A. de Villiers retired out 53A. Prince c Jaggernauth b D. Mohammed 18J. Duminy retired out 51+M. Boucher not out 51J. Botha lbw b Jaggernauth 19R. McLaren not out 1Extras (lb1, w1, nb2) 4TOTAL (4 wkts, 90 overs) 347

J. Kallis, D. Miller, M. Morkel, C. Langeveldt, D. Steyn, L. Tsotsobe to bat

Fall of wickets: 1-72 (Smith), 1-133 (Amla, retired out), 2-167 (Petersen), 3-195 (Prince), 3-266 (deVilliers, retired out), 3-288 (Duminy, retired out), 4-338 (Botha)

Bowling: Stewart 8-0-51-0 (nb2); Cooper 14-0-57-0 (w1); Emrit 7-1-28-0; Jaggernauth 11-0-46-1; Kantasingh 16-3-46-0; Cariah 15-2-57-1; D. Mohammed 12-1-29-1; S. Ganga 5-0-31-0; Simmons 2-1-1-0

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO:D. Ganga, L. Simmons, W. Perkins, S. Ganga, K. Cooper, +G. Mohammed, N. Stewart, Y. Cariah, A. Jaggernauth, R. Emrit, J. Mohammed, A. Cooper, K. Kantasingh

Toss: South Africa

Teams: 14-a-side (11 will bat)

Umpires: H. Bruce, A. Creed