Smith and Bosman’s Record Stand Levels T20 Series
November 16, 2009 by Alex Homer
Loots Bosman smashed nine sixes to Graeme Smith’s six in a world record partnership in Twenty20 Internationals and set up an 84-run victory for South Africa at Centurion.
Bosman finished on 94 off 45 balls and Smith 88 off 44 balls in their 13-over stand of 170 – a record for any wicket in T20 Internationals – and saw South Africa to 241-6.
England’s reply mimicked the Proteas in its slow start, Smith and Bosman were 14-0 off three overs, but lacked the home side’s acceleration, finishing 157-8.
The pacing of Bosman and Smith’s partnership was a microcosm of T20. To play three overs carefully is ample to assess conditions, and be sufficiently circumspect not to lose early wickets. Adding 55 runs in the second three powerplay overs shows the hitting now considered possible.
Captained by Alastair Cook, as Paul Collingwood missed out with a back injury, England fielded a changed side with Kevin Pietersen appearing two days early and Adil Rashid replacing Graeme Swann – also out with a sore side.
Smith striking the first three balls, one of which a no ball, for boundaries brought first Cook over to gee up Mahmood. James Anderson arrived after the second four and, after the third, Pietersen suggested a field change.
The farce continued as Mahmood’s fourth ball, a free hit, was a pinpoint yorker than flattened Smith’s stumps. A second Mahmood no ball provided the piece de la resistance as Bosman was caught by Anderson at mid-off and was reprieved.
Posting a deep backward point and bowling full outside off from over the wicket seemed a plan to cut out Smith’s preference for the legside. Smith countered by going deeper into his crease across his stumps to free up cow corner; England found no Plan B.
Anderson returned figures of one wicket for 28 runs off his four, but the other seamers struggled. Rashid’s first over disappearing for 25 with four sixes deterred Cook from taking pace off the ball early.
Denly’s occasional leg spin eventually removed Smith, caught by Mahmood at long-on, while a tumbling catch from Anderson denied Bosman his century. A short-lived cameo from AB de Villiers (24) however ensured England’s mammoth target.
Cook and Denly lacked the firepower to launch the chase but Jonathan Trott top-scored with 51 off 40 balls – impressive in any other circumstances but these, as the T20 series finished 1-1.
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[...] Allied with the injuries to Paul Collingwood (back), Graeme Swann (intercostal injury) and Alastair Cook(pictured) waking with a stiff back this morning, little was to be expected from an injury-ravaged England after their demolition in Sunday’s Twenty20. [...]