da cassino online： Bloemfontein (South Africa) There are those who have loftily accusedHansie Cronje of having the batting technique of an honest journeymanbut lacking in flair and then pass on without giving the dismissivecomment a second thought
Trevor Chesterfield31-Oct-1999Bloemfontein (South Africa) There are those who have loftily accusedHansie Cronje of having the batting technique of an honest journeymanbut lacking in flair and then pass on without giving the dismissivecomment a second thought. Which is the sort of smug, superciliousattitude you pick up in the sparsely inhabited bars in this part ofthe country: with South Africa booted out of another World Cup event,and in the semi-finals, looking for someone to blame for the folly ofineptitude in another sport arena in another hemisphere is a typicalresponse.Cronje is his own man, has his own style and it is far better thanmost at what he does, his batting has its own style, flair and wealthin character and it was on display at Goodyear Park yesterday as SouthAfrica took control of this first Test against Zimbabwe. An innings of60 not out as South Africa reached 253 for four in reply to thevisitors 192 is, so far, a fair response. Admittedly it is notnow an imposing total and much rests with the South African captaintomorrow just how far they can stretch their lead of 61. Inpartnership with Jonty Rhodes, merrily dancing his way to 24, SouthAfricas captain will be anxious to plunder a seventh Test centuryand lay the foundation to a match-winning total.It was early in his innings when Cronje became South Africa?sleading Test run-scorer, beating a record held by Bruce Mitchell of3471 runs and at the close had advanced his career total to 3525 andshould, at some stage this summer become the first South African tobreach the 4000 mark. So much for the criticsWhile bad light and the threat of a late afternoon shower or two cutshort play by a mere 4.1 overs and what had been a small Saturdayafternoon crowd had long departed to deposit itself in front oftelevision sets around the city of roses, hence the term bloem(flower) to watch their rugby side go the way of most mortals andplunge towards defeat (?See the tear in my eye, guys.?), theSouth African captain indulged in some solid strokeplay. It may nothave been exciting, or pulsating either the way the limited Zimbabweattack did their best to strangle their opponents of a more steady runsupply, but there is no doubt it was highly effective. He had alreadyseen Jacques Kallis depart to a doubtful lbw decision, awarded by NewZealand?s Steve Dunne for 64, and earlier watched as DaryllCullinan gave it away, throttled by negative tactics into cutting tooloosely to Grant Flower off Guy Whittall, Zimbabwe?s all-round herowho barely 24 hours before had rescued his side from embarrassment.Kallis later admitted he was unsure whether he managed to get bat onball, but there were two distinct noises and although TV replays ofthe incident were not conclusive, instinct told there may have beenbat on ball. Dunne has been heavily criticised for decisions given inSharjah, especially during the Pakistan-Sri Lanka final, yet it isoften the umpire?s human error touch which makes the game it is:full of uncertainty and fallible judgements. Boeta Dippenaar, in hisdebut Test inning may have also felt a touch robbed when reaching 20he was also an lbw victim to a delivery more likely to have gone overthe stumps.No matter, Kallis had that solid appearance of a batsman determined onworking the ball around the field and while there were only nineboundaries during his exercise of 274 minutes, he had least knew whathe was about. There were times when he challenged the bowlers tobounce him, or try and get in a yorker. The Zimbabwe attack, though,has no one so threatening. Which, as humble as it is, forced theircaptain, Alistair Campbell instructing the bowlers to keep it tightand outside the off and force the batsmen into mistakes. It is a ploywhich can work but as Shaun Pollock showed on the Friday, wickets arethere for the taking if you bowl straight and make the batsmen playattacking strokes. A mere lesson in strategy which others should applyif they wish to be as successful as the red-headed South Africanvice-captain was on the first day.