England captain Michael Vaughan hailed a "very special" achievement after his team completed a record eighth successive Test win by beating South Africa by seven wickets on the fifth day of the first Test at St George's Park yesterday.
While England celebrated, South African captain Graeme Smith made a thinly veiled criticism of his country's administrators, who have sacked two coaches, two convenors of selectors and one captain in the past two-and-a-half years.
PHOTO: AFP
"We need to stabilize in South African cricket," Smith said. "We have to get on a path and work towards a goal. As a captain you start something and then six months later you have to start again, with a new coach, new convenor and new players. The United Cricket Board have to stabilize the key positions. The more you jump around the worse things become."
PHOTO: EPA
Smith vowed that South Africa intended to come back strongly in the five-Test series.
"When we were in England last year we started well and England came back, so we've had it happen to us. We have to regroup quickly. We have to improve on a few areas of our game, especially under pressure," he said.
PHOTO: EPA
Andrew Strauss was England's star, taking the man of the match award with innings of 126 and 94 not out. He made 43 of the 52 runs scored by England yesterday as they took only 36 minutes and 9.4 overs to complete their victory.
"His attitude is spot on," Vaughan said. "He doesn't get too high when he's doing well or too low when he's not performing. His technique is pretty good and mentally he's got the ability to be a star for England for many years to come."
Vaughan said the whole team had shown character in coming back from a defeat by South Africa A in their only warm-up game before the Test.
"We were under pressure coming into this match. A lot of mental resolve was needed," he said.
Vaughan said it was encouraging that England had won despite not performing to their full potential, although he said his players expected South Africa to "hit back hard" in the second Test starting in Durban on Sunday.
"We need to be up for that challenge," he added.
He said of the eight-match winning streak: "It wasn't something I was thinking about coming into the match. I just wanted us to put in a good performance. But now that we've done it I know we've created something very special."
England's win beats a record that had stood for 116 years. England won seven Tests between 1884 and 1885, as well as 1887 and 1888, a record that was equalled in the 1928 to 1929 season.
England's record sequence started when they beat New Zealand in all three home Tests earlier this year and followed up by a 4-0 clean sweep at home against the West Indies.
"Every time this team have been asked a question about their character, they've answered it," Vaughan said.
The England team moved into joint fifth on an all-time list that is headed by Australia, who won 16 times in a row between 1999 and 2000 as well as 2000 and 2001.
England, needing 142 to win, resumed at 93 for three under a heavily overcast sky, with showers predicted. Any hopes South Africa might have had of making England struggle for the 49 runs needed were quickly blown away by Strauss, who hit 19 runs off the first three overs of the day, including a pulled six off fast bowler Dale Steyn.
Strauss continued to play aggressively and finished the match in style with two boundaries off Makhaya Ntini.
Although Strauss was the outstanding individual performer, Vaughan said the foundation for the win was laid by England's bowlers, who bowled with discipline and accuracy to restrict South Africa to 337 in the first innings.
Vaughan said England had let South Africa off the hook after being in a dominant position after two days.
"That's something we have to work on," he said.
The South African team for Durban, which was expected to be announced after the match, will only be named today.
India vs Bangladesh
India thrashed minnows Bangla-desh by an innings and 83 runs on the fourth day of the second and final Test to complete a 2-0 sweep on Monday.
India, who won the opening Test at Dhaka by an innings and 140 runs, required just four balls to grab the last Bangladeshi wicket and complete the demolition in a one-sided series.
Trailing by 207 runs, Bangladesh were bundled out for 124 in their second innings after resuming 118-9.
This was Bangladesh's 20th defeat by an innings margin and 31st overall in 34 matches since they gained Test status in 2000. The remaining three Tests, two against Zimbabwe and one against the West Indies, were drawn.
India finished the job when off-spinner Harbhajan Singh had last-man Talha Jubair (31) caught by Irfan Pathan in the deep in the opening over of the day.
Jubair played the only scoring stroke of the morning, lifting the spinner for a six before being caught attempting another big shot.
Left-arm paceman Pathan finished with five wickets, while leg-spinner Anil Kumble and Harbhajan bagged two apiece.
Bangladesh's hopes of putting up a stiff resistance against India were dashed in the last session on Sunday when they lost nine wickets in just 26 overs in a sensational collapse.
Bangladesh could never test India in the series, dishing out inconsistent batting and bowling performances. They had only a few moments to cherish.
Mohammad Ashraful will remember the series for his unbeaten 60 in the opening Test at Dhaka and 158 not out in the second.
His century was the highest individual score by a Bangladeshi batsman in Test cricket, surpassing the previous best of 145 by Aminul Islam in the inaugural Test against India at Dhaka in 2000.
"I enjoyed my knock. It was not easy to bat against a strong Indian attack, but I just stayed there and played each ball on merit," said Ashraful, who was named man of the match.
Left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique grabbed six wickets in two innings and fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza five, but lacked support from team-mates to put pressure on the Indian batting line-up.
India had plenty of opportunities to improve their batting and bowling averages against a weak Bangladeshi side.
Pathan struck it rich as he finished the series with 18 wickets, including three hauls of five or more scalps.
"Everything went well for me in this series. I'm really happy. It's been very good so far," said Pathan, who was named man of the series.
Kumble also enjoyed bowling on slow tracks as he overtook Kapil Dev's Indian record of 434 Test wickets during his 10-wicket performance in the series.
Sachin Tendulkar, who had seven single-digit scores against his name in the last 10 innings before the tour, returned to his big-scoring ways against a mediocre Bangladeshi attack.
He scored a career-best 248 not out in the opening Test to equal compatriot Sunil Gavaskar's world record of 34 Test centuries.
Left-handed opener Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid also made merry with centuries in the second Test to virtually bat Bangladesh out of the match and the series.
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