Cronje in full flow; 6-wkt win for South Africa

By Ted Corbett

JOHANNESBURG, JAN. 22. An orange moon shone over the Wanderers ground on Friday night; an event as rare as a free lunch. This odd omen brought the return to form of the South African captain Hansie Cronje who made an undefeated top score of 83 as South Africa won by six wickets. A Cronje full of runs is an urgent need if South Africa is to replace Daryll Cullinan and Jonty Rhodes in the near future and two successive noughts in Tests were unwanted signs. On Friday he was man of the match and was ``delighted to get a few runs again.''

When he went to the wicket in the 13th over, his side was 55 for three after Gary Kirsten, Jacques Kallis and the nervous Dale Benkenstein had all gone for 14 in aggregate. Gibbs had made a fitful start but it required a steady hand to see South Africa to victory over Zimbabwe's 226 and Cronje had looked as steady as a sailor on shore-leave throughout five Tests against England.

Once he had steered his way through the 5,000 barrier we saw the full range of Cronje shots: deft footwork to the spinners, a crashing pull off seamer Gary Brent, regular placements on both sides of the wicket. Gibbs stopped his hit-and-miss strokes and watched his chief demonstrate what he had learnt in 173 matches as he completed his 35th fifty.

South Africa had 98 after 20 overs, 150 in 30 - from a Gibbs' straight six off Andy Whittall - and forced Andy Flower to spread his fielders as far as he could by law. Nothing could stop Cronje and Gibbs putting on 104, nor Cronje and Klusener adding 70. No need to feel sorry for Zimbabwe by the way. It conceded 31 extras in 30 overs and is clearly in need of more discipline.

``Victory over us was not for the likes of them,'' Sydney Barnes, the great medium pace bowler, is reported to have said of the South Africans of the 1890s. Zimbabwe must lose that attitude or it will certainly not qualify for the final of this triangular tournament, its minimum ambition here, so they say.

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