Alviro, JP fail with the bat
Alviro Petersen and JP Duminy failed to make use of their time in the middle during the South Africans' drawn tour match against Worcestershire, with both dismissed cheaply on the second and final afternoon on Saturday.
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Petersen scored just 10 to take his total to 42 from four innings on tour, while Duminy made two batting at No 3 before becoming the first of three wickets for Chris Russell, who took six in the match.
Although Duminy made a half-century in South Africa's opening fixture at Taunton, he was not required to bat in the first test at The Oval and made just five in the first innings at Worcestershire. He and Petersen were the only South Africans not to gain significant practice at New Road; however, AB de Villiers said: "We achieved what we wanted to in this game."
The rest of the side all enjoyed a good workout. De Villiers and Albie Morkel scored half-centuries in the first innings, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander were among the wickets and Jacques Rudolph got valuable runs in the second innings after a lean patch of his own. Robin Peterson also made a strong case for himself by cleaning up the tail. He took four wickets in seven overs to ensure Worcestershire gained only a slender first-innings lead.
After a morning session in which the bowlers made significant inroads into the Worcestershire batting line-up, Aneesh Kapil scored a belligerent half-century at greater than a run a ball. Cameos from Ben Scott and Richard Jones took the county side past the South African total but they did not last for long enough to deny the visitors' batsmen a second stint at the crease before the second test at Headingley, starting on Thursday.
A subdued start sparked into life when Philander removed Neil Pinner in the eighth over of the morning. He followed up a series of full deliveries with a short one, which surprised Pinner as he tried to fend it off his nose. He managed only an edge which carried to Thami Tsolekile, who completed a fairly simple first catch of the tour.
Like Peter Trego, James Hildreth and Sam Northeast in previous tour games, Matthew Pardoe kept South Africa's test attack at bay. Pardoe dug in to score a gritty half-century, having resumed on 40 overnight. He brought up his milestone with a drive through the covers off Albie Morkel's first over.
Pardoe weathered an assault of quick bowling from South Africa's change seamers, with Lonwabo Tsotsobe running in and delivering markedly faster than usual. After being taken aback by an Albie Morkel short ball that kissed the grill of his helmet, Pardoe succumbed. Tsotsobe sent down a fiery length ball and Pardoe edged to give Tsolekile his second catch
Morne Morkel gave away little more than a run an over, until just before lunch, and took the third wicket. Joe Leach played on to a full delivery in his attempt to drive down the ground, leaving two new batsmen at the crease. Kapil ensured the over before the break was an entertaining one as he flayed Morne Morkel for three boundaries to cut the lead to under 100.
Kapil continued to bat aggressively after the break and was able to get the ball through the infield and to the boundary with ease, reaching his fifty from 44 balls. He and Scott put on 81 for the seventh wicket, including 44 in six overs post-lunch but Peterson pulled them back when he bowled Kapil.
Scott continued adding runs in the face of a lethargic South African effort but was also stopped by Peterson when he was trapped lbw, trying to sweep. Peterson bowled David Lucas with the next ball but could not get the hat-trick when Russell, who is yet to play a first-class game, padded away the delivery. Jones was eventually out, clipping to short leg where Tsolekile took the catch, having handed the gloves to AB de Villiers in the second session.
Petersen and Duminy were dismissed cheaply at the start of the second innings and both have not had much opportunity to bat on tour. Albie Morkel was bowled by Russell and Steyn, who was moved up the order to No 5, also did not have much to show after being caught in the slips for a duck. Rudolph and Morne Morkel looked steady when the sides shook hands on the draw.
Courtesy of ESPNCricInfo
Report Day 1
WORCESTERSHIRE: DKH Mitchell (capt), MG Pardoe, MM Ali, JG Cameron, ND Pinner, A Kapil, BJM Scott†, RA Jones, DS Lucas, CJ Russell, SH Choudhry
SOUTH AFRICA XI: JA Rudolph, AN Petersen, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, JA Morkel, TL Tsolekile, RJ Peterson, DW Steyn, VD Philander, M Morkel, LL Tsotsobe, Imran Tahir
