03 January,2011 04:04 PM IST | | Agencies
S Sreesanth bowled a deadly spell with the second new ball while Jacques Kallis completed his 39th century in Tests as South Africa reached 335 for nine at lunch on the second day of the third and final Test match here today.
Kallis, who played brilliantly for his unbeaten century (140 batting, 253, 15x4) added crucial 25 runs for the 10th wicket with Lonwabo Tsotsobe (3 batting).
However, it was Sreesanth (five for 99) who bowled a hostile spell of seam bowling to turn things in India's favour during the first hour and half. The drama started in the 84th over bowled by Sreesanth.
By that time, Kallis and Ashwell Prince (47, 100 balls, 6x4) had added 98 runs for the fifth wicket. Sreesanth's delivery pitched on the seam just outside off-stump and then shaped in to breach through left-handed Prince's defence.
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The very next delivery to Mark Boucher (0) moved a shade away at the last moment as the wicketkeeper-batsman edged it to Dhoni behind stumps. Kallis averted the hat-trick as Sreesanth bowled a no-ball.
One of the greatest among South African batsmen, Kallis reached 99 with consecutive boundaries from Sreesanth.
The first was an on-drive and then next clipped through the mid-wicket. He reached his 39th century with a tuck to the square leg region for a single.
Kallis, who scored his seventh ton at Newlands is now equal in terms of the number of centuries with Ricky Ponting.
He faced 209 balls and hit nine boundaries. Sreesanth, on the otherhand, completed his third five-wicket haul in Test cricket by getting Morne Morkel to edge one to Dhoni behind the stumps.
Zaheer then removed Dale Steyn with a well disguised short ball that lobbed off his gloves to Cheteshwar Pujara at gully.
Kallis got an able ally in Paul Harris (7) as they thwarted Indian bowlers' bid to polish off the tail.
The dogged duo put in 27 runs before Ishant came round the wicket to cramp Harris for room as his desperate fend flew off to Pujara who was at leg gully for that particular catch.
Kallis, who is slowly reaching another milestone of 12,000 runs in Test cricket, showed a lot of character despite pain in his rib-cage.
He added valuable runs first with Harris and then with Lonwabo Tsotsobe as the home team reached a more than decent first innings score on a wicket where the South African bowlers will surely pose a few problems for the Indian top-order.
