South Africa fight back

An aggressive half-century by Hashim Amla enabled South Africa to fight back on a rain-shortened first day of the third and final Test against India at Newlands on Sunday. South Africa were 125 for three at tea after Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni sent them in to bat under a heavily overcast sky.

Only nine overs were bowled in the morning. A further 12 overs after lunch came before the players had to leave the field because of bad light. By that time, opening batsmen Graeme Smith and Alviro Petersen had both been dismissed.

Amla (59) took the fight to the Indian bowlers when the players returned after a 27-minute break, hitting Zaheer Khan for three boundaries in four balls.

Amla and Jacques Kallis (22 not out) put on 72 for the third wicket in 15 overs before Amla played one attacking shot too many, top-edging a ball from Sree Sreesanth to Cheteshwar Pujara at deep midwicket.

He made his runs off 80 balls with eight fours and a hooked six off Sreesanth which raised his half-century.

With the series locked at one-all, play started on time despite early morning rain. Dhoni called correctly for the first time in the series and followed the example of Smith in the first two Tests by sending his opponents in on a pitch which looked greener than usual for Newlands.

Petersen made a confident start by hitting two boundaries in Sree Sreesanth’s first over, a clip to the square leg boundary followed by an off-drive for four when Sreesanth over-pitched.

The left-armed Khan gave both batsmen problems, however, bowling a probing length and making the ball move both ways.

He got his reward when Smith played around a delivery which struck him on the back pad to win a leg before wicket decision from umpire Simon Taufel. Smith was out for six.

Petersen made 21 before lunging at a drive against Ishant Sharma and edging a catch to Dhoni.

Amla had some anxious moments against Khan, going from six to 12 with an inside edge for four and a leading edge which ballooned into a vacant cover area for two more runs.

In the only change from the teams which played in the second Test in Durban, which India won by 87 runs, Indian opening batsman Gautam Gambhir returned from injury in place of Murali Vijay.

CAPE TOWN, Jan 2, 2011, AFP