South Africa steal defeat from the jaws of victory. With a substantial 115 run lead, going into the second innings, it was South Africa's game to lose...and lose they did, big time. Playing as SA (on Veteran) I thought I had this one sown up at the halfway stage...how wrong I was. I saw plenty of bat-pad drives in India's first innings but they were against pace and I didn't have anyone close on the on side. In the second innings, desperate for wickets, I stationed Amla at Silly Mid On, hoping to cheese my way to victory...but only one chance came my way, the entire innings, from a bat-pad (against spin, nothing against pace)...and I dropped it. Thoroughly enjoying playing Test cricket in casual mode (never really did this in DBC14)...I just need to find a way to win.
Match Summary:
SA First Innings. I thought at the time it was a little short as the tail collapsed but great batting from Elgar after a slow start:
India's bowling:
Poor show from India made me re-evaluate my first innings score as being better than I'd first thought. A win on the cards for sure as India struggled with Morkel's pace:
SA bowling. A little wayward at times but effective enough.
SA get off to a flier in the second innings despite the early loss of Cook. Going at 6 an over for a time...then it all went wrong as the Indian spinners demolish the SA batting lineup.
Still with the first innings lead in the bank, I just needed to bowl out India for a similar score to their first innings. How hard could that be? Turns out, very hard. By the time the first wicket fell, with the unfortunate Rahul having his stumps sent flying on 99, it was all too late.
Bowling ineffective on, what turned out to be, a good batting surface.