South Africa's batsmen show good form

South Africa's top batsmen gave a good impression of themselves as the two-day match against Board President's XI ended in a draw in Nagpur on Wednesday.

Having bowled out the local side for 318, Graeme Smith and his men did overwhelm the target, folding for 354, but not before leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (4/88) and offie R Ashwin (3/96) exposed the vulnerability of the Proteas, especially the middle and lower order, against turning deliveries.

The visitors, thought, can draw confidence from the fact that Ashwell Prince (42), Smith (45), Hashim Amla (72 retired), Jacques Kallis (63 retired), AB de Villiers (27) and JP Duminy (39) all got the starts and looked in form.

Resuming the second and final day on 44 for no loss at the Vidarbha Cricket Association ground, South Africa lost their captain when Abhimanyu Mithun had Smith caught behind.

Prince looked good for a fifty before Ashwin trapped him eight runs off the mark, reducing the visitors to 115 for two.

Amla and Kallis batted with utmost ease and milked the Board President's attack, which just could not trouble the veteran duo.

Kallis was particularly impressive, using his feet well against the spinners, while he cut and pulled the pacers with elan to race to his half-century, which came when he hit Chawla over his head for a massive six.

He grew so much in confidence that the beefy batsman started stepping out to meet even the pacers.

Amla was tentative early in his innings but once he found his foot, the right-hander played some delectable flicks and cover-drives en route to his fifty.

After they had guided the side past the 200-mark, Kallis decided to allow the subsequent batsmen to get some hit and retired after 56 overs.

Four overs later, Amla followed suit.

Kallis needed just just 58 balls for his brisk 63 which had eight fours and three sixes in it while Amla's 122-ball 72 had 12 fours in it.

Both de Villiers and Duminy also got the starts but Chawla and Ashwin ran through the middle and lower order as the visitors were all out for 354.

Scorecard

Board President's XI (1st innings):
A Mukund c Duminy b Steyn 8
P Patel c Smith b Morkel 8
A Rahane c Morkel b Parnell 12
R Sharma c Harris b Parnell 20
M Pandey c Harris b Morkel 43
C Pujara b Botha 17
A Nayar c Kallis b Morkel 100
S Dhawan run out 70
P Chawla c Boucher b Parnell 8
R Ashwin c Boucher b Kallis 8
Vinay Kumar not out 0
Extras (b-1, lb-6, nb-17) 24
Total (all out in 74.4 overs) 318

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-22, 3-53, 4-56, 5-114, 6-114,7-295 8-307, 9-315.

Bowling: Steyn 9-4-17-1; Morkel 7.4-0-24-3; Tsotsobe 6-2-20-0; Parnell 13-1-66-3; Harris 12-0-71-0; Botha 12-0-44-1; McLaren 5-0-29-0; Duminy 5-0-23-0; Smith 3-0-16-0; Kallis 2-1-1-1.

South Africans (1st innings) (overnight 44 for no loss):
A Prince lbw b Ashwin 42
G Smith c Patel b Mithun 45
H Amla retired hurt 72
J Kallis retired hurt 63
AB de Villiers b Chawla 27
JP Duminy lbw b Parnell 39
M Boucher st Patel b Ashwin 5
J Botha c Yadav b Chawla 16
W Parnell c Mukund b Chawla 4
D Steyn c Vinay Kumar b Ashwin 27
M Morkel not out 6
Extras: (b-1, lb-4, nb-3) 8
Total: (all out; 82 overs) 354