The Cricket Thread

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5th ODI: South Africa v Pakistan at Benoni - Mar 24, 2013

Pakistan 205 (49.1 ov); South Africa 208/4 (44ov)

South Africa won by 6 wickets (with 36 balls remaining)

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Smart stats

--South Africa's 3-2 win
is their fourth ODI series triumph at home since the start of 2010. They have
won three series by a margin of 3-2 and lost one each against Australia and New
Zealand.

--AB de Villiers' series aggregate of 367 runs is the highest
ever in a five-match series in South Africa and the third-highest overall in
South Africa.

--De Villiers' tally in the series (367 runs) is his
highest ever in a bilateral series and the second-highest overall behind the
aggregate in the 2007 World Cup (372 runs in ten matches).

--De Villiers'
average of 50.38 is the third-highest among batsmen with 5000-plus ODI runs. He
is one of the two batsmen (Viv Richards the other) in the group to boast an
average greater than 40 and a strike rate (93.12) greater than 90.

--Ryan
McLaren's 3 for 32 is his second-best bowling performance against Pakistan and
the fourth-best overall. Since the start of 2013, he has picked up 18 wickets at
an average of 19.00.

--South Africa's win is seventh in eight ODIs in
Benoni. Their only loss at the venue came against Sri Lanka in 2002 when the
visitors won by seven wickets.

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New Zealand 443 & 241/6d

England 204 & 6/1 (5.0 ov)

England require another 475 runs with 9 wickets remaining

Day 4 - Session 2

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Big Big trouble!

New Zealand 443 & 241/6d

England 204 & 90/4 (52.1 ov)

England require another 391 runs with 6 wickets remaining

Stumps - Day 4

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Fulton joins elite company


Peter Fulton opened his shoulders and effortlessly picked up a full Stuart Broad delivery and slammed the ball into the northern stand at Eden Park for the fifth six of his innings.

The short-arm punch of the bat was followed with an understated fist pump, a wander down the pitch to shake hands with captain Brendon McCullum and another matter-of-fact waving of the bat to the crowd.

Remarkably, the 34-year-old Fulton had just joined an elite group of New Zealand cricketers by scoring a century in both innings of a test match.

He was just the fourth New Zealander to achieve the feat, following Glenn Turner, Geoff Howarth and Andrew Jones.

The strange thing for Fulton was that he scored his second century three days after he had made his maiden ton and the tall righthander said the second felt more special than the first given the game situation.

"To get one was more a bit of relief to finally tick that off," Fulton told reporters on Monday. "Whenever you get a hundred you tell yourself you have to back it up.

"It very seldom works out like that as a batter so it was nice to do the job again for the team."

Fulton's innings on Monday was in direct contrast to his patient innings on the first day of the series-deciding match last Friday.

It was also vastly different to how he dropped anchor late on Sunday when England had reduced the hosts to eight for three in their second innings and with a sniff of running through New Zealand's order.

ATTACK MODE

Late on Sunday Fulton defended, let balls go and waited till stumps. On Monday he attacked, and with gusto.

He was positive from the beginning of play and truly signalled his intentions when he dispatched left-arm spinner Monty Panesar for two fours and a six into the northern stand to move from 46 to 60 in the space of four balls.

Combining with McCullum the pair quickly accelerated New Zealand's innings to the point where they were more than 400 runs ahead by lunch and Fulton was 91 not out.

When the pair returned he decided not to hang around battling the 'nervous nineties' as his side needed more runs, in quick-time, to declare before the tea break.

Fulton quickly moved to 99 then when Broad over-pitched a delivery, he put one foot down the wicket and belted the ball high over the sightscreen into the stand.

"The first innings was a bit nervy and I'd decided when we came out after lunch that I'd just play the same way as I had before, regardless of what score I was on," he said.

"It made for slightly less of a nerve-racking time for myself anyway.

"I thought if he pitches it up I'm going to try and hit it back over his head.

"It's just one of those things, I just wanted to get there and make sure we kept being aggressive.

"I didn't want to slow down too much looking for a personal milestone."

For someone who was dropped from the team for four years before his recall after some blistering domestic form, personal milestones should mean something though Fulton said he would give it all back should New Zealand wrap up victory on Tuesday.

"To get this close to getting a win, if we don't finish the job off now then I think it'll be pretty tough to swallow.

"I'd gladly give back the hundreds to get a win. We haven't had many test wins over England let alone series wins.

"We are hugely delighted with how the day has finished but there are still six more wickets to get and the English aren't just going to hand them over to us."

[Corzza]

New Zealand 443 & 241/6d

England 204 & 158/5 (83.0 ov)

England require another 323 runs with 5 wickets remaining

Lunch - Day 5

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From Cricinfo:

"What a Test match. The opponents are moved enough to embrace, Southee and Prior, then Monty, the Barmy Army sings on and on, Southee pats Prior on the back one final time. Prior walks into the embrace of Stuart Broad, Ian Bell, Jimmy Anderson, Graham Gooch, all hug the saviour

New Zealand do not win too many Test matches, especially against big sides like England. They deserved to win today, it was that one drop, by Brownlie off Ian Bell. Bell batted another session after that reprieve, and Prior took over. But from England apparently just having to turn up to win 3-0, and having to depend on No 11 to avoid a series defeat, New Zealand have shown what they can do."

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New Zealand 443 & 241/6d

England 204 & 315/9 (143.0 ov)

Match drawn

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3rd ODI: Sri Lanka v Bangladesh at Pallekele - Mar 28, 2013

Sri Lanka 302/9 (50 ov); Bangladesh 184/7 (26/27 ov)

Bangladesh won by 3 wickets (with 6 balls remaining) (D/L method)

[sct911]

chris gayle fastest 100(30 balls) , went on to get 175*(66balls)