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[Affiliate Program]
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Test #1534 West Indies vs South Africa at Guyana. Report by Daniel Mathew. Carl Hooper returns with style but in a West Indian loss.Carl Hooper a West Indian cricket hero for more than 15 years came back from retirement to play in the first test match between West Indies & South Africa played at Guyana and looked in great form as he scored 38 & 53 runs. On the first day West Indies won the toss and decided to bat which turned out bad as they were in trouble when they lost Hinds and Gayle for 3 runs but Samuels 45 runs and Lara 72 runs put on 121 runs partnership for the 3rd wicket after Samuels and Lara got out. Sarwan came to bat at number 5 and added 23 runs. Hooper who came in at number 6 got big applause and standing ovation from the crowd and did not disappoint the crowd as he played some elegant shots all over the ground got out when he was caught by Boucher. Jacobs 25 runs and McLean 12 runs added key contributions as Ramnarine, Dillion and Walsh just added 4 runs and West Indies was allout for 242. Pollock took 5 wickets for 43 runs and Donald took 4 wickets for 33 runs. South Africa didn't have a good start either as they lost Gibbs, Kallis 30 runs, Cullinan, McKenzie, Boucher and Klusener and looked in trouble at 111 after losing 6 wickets. But Kirsten 118 runs and Boje 183 runs added a spectacular partnership of 207 runs for the seventh wicket. After Kirsten got caught out by Jacobs. Pollock played a captains innings as he added 61 runs and secured South Africa at 457 runs. Tailenders Donald and Ntini added 8 runs. McLean and Walsh took 3 wickets each for West Indies. South Africa had 215 runs lead. When West Indies came in to bat in the second innings they followed the same way they did in their first innings as they lost both their openers for 12 runs. Star batsman Lara was not able to bat long as he got out for 1 runs. Sarwan left after adding 13 runs. Samuels 45 runs and Hooper 53 runs got West Indies to 143. After that the lower order added 65 runs and got West Indies to 194. Man of the Match Pollock took 4 wickets in that inning and 9 for the match. And West Indies lost the game by and inning and 21 runs. After the game Hooper said, "I am just happy to be back" he added "....if we can play the game as a team I assure you we can take West Indies to it former glory". Rest assured if Hooper is in form West Indies has a great player and leader they can rely on. And they could indeed be the team that many feared to play against for more than 20 years. |
Revised:
Saturday, 16 March 2013. |
