Andre Nel took three wickets and sparked a collapse by England on the first day of the third Test against South Africa at Edgbaston on Wednesday. He then thanked the contribution of the British media for building him up before the game.
England crashed to 231 all out after winning the toss and batting on an easy-paced pitch. They were cruising at 68 for no wicket before Nel struck twice in two balls and they never recovered.
South Africa were 38 for one at the close after Graeme Smith was dismissed by Andrew Flintoff.
PHOTO: AP
“You guys helped me quite nicely,” Nel said of the media’s attention on him and his aggressive and sometimes impetuous alter ego ‘Gunther’ during the build-up to the Test. “You guys were talking about it so much in the newspapers I actually didn’t have to do that much.”
Nel was predictably the target of verbal barbs from the crowd but his bowling backed up his claim that he liked to get the crowd going.
He said he was disappointed the fans hadn’t got more involved.
“They only sang about three songs. They need to learn some more,” he said.
Nel took three for 47 and all-rounder Jacques Kallis three for 31 as England, trailing the four-match series 1-0, failed to post the imposing total sought by captain Michael Vaughan.
Replacing the injured Dale Steyn, Nel dismissed the first three men in the England batting order.
He could have done even better because he twice induced edges from Ian Bell which fell just short of the slips. Bell went on to make 50. Bell and Alastair Cook (76) made more than half their side’s total.
Nel made the breakthrough after Andrew Strauss and Cook had apparently drawn the sting from the South African bowling. Strauss stepped on his stumps as he played Nel to leg to be out hit wicket for 20.
Nel admitted it was a lucky break.
“I was about to shout at myself for bowling down leg side when all of a sudden Mark Boucher was running at me saying he’s out,” he said.
Vaughan pushed forward to the first ball he faced and was given out caught behind by umpire Aleem Dar in response to a frenzied appeal by Nel, even though wicketkeeper Boucher did not join in.
Vaughan looked surprised at the decision but replays indicated he might have got a faint edge to the ball. Three overs later Kevin Pietersen tried to play Kallis to leg and the ball looped off his pad to Ashwell Prince at backward point.
He was given out caught although the ball probably did not touch his bat. Ironically he could have been given out leg before wicket as replays showed the ball would have hit his stumps.
Cook made an impressive 76 off 125 balls before Nel had him caught low down by a diving Kallis at second slip. The rest of the batting crumbled, apart from a cautious stand of 39 off 115 balls between Flintoff and Tim Ambrose. The recall of Paul Collingwood at No. 6 was unsuccessful as he made only four off 22 balls before edging Kallis to first slip.
Flintoff showed his usual aggression after Ambrose and Ryan Sidebottom were out in quick succession but he had no sooner hit Makhaya Ntini for six and four off successive balls than the innings ended when James Anderson and Monty Panesar were run out off successive balls.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was