Dogged Sibley puts England in command
THE DAKAR Rally entered a new era as the event raced through the Saudi Arabian desert for the first time in its proud history during yesterdays’ 319km run along the Red Sea from Jeddah to Al Whjh.
The race had already claimed its first victim when former truck racer Martin Kolomy crashed his Ford in Friday’s shakedown.
And it was not much better for several others as the Dakar claimed more victims on the opening day, but there was no stopping unknown Lithuanian Viadotas Zala from taking the car win, while 2019 winner Toby Price won on two wheels.
It was a dramatic day among the cars as Qatari 2019 winner Nasser Al-attiyah made the early running in the lead in his South Africa-built Toyota Hilux ahead of Spaniard
DOMINIC Sibley led the way with a career best innings and every chance of converting it into a maiden Test match century as England ground their way towards an invincible position on day three of the second Test match against the Standard Bank Proteas at Newlands yesterday.
England closed the day on 218/4 for an overall lead of 264 runs with one of the four wickets being that of night watchman Dom Bess who departed for a pair in the match.
Sibley finished the day on 85 (222 balls, 13x4s), having shared stands of 73 for the second wicket with Joe Denly and 116 for the third with Joe Root (61 off 98 balls, 7x4s). This was a huge improvement on Sibley’s previous career best of 29 in the previous Test match at Supersport Park.
What would have been even more important for the tourists was the fact that their top order put up by far their most convincing batting display for a long time, leaving Root with really only one issue being the timing of his declaration, assuming the Proteas
Carlos Sainz Senior’s
Mini buggy and Jakub Przygonsk’s AWD Mini, but the Pole was soon in trouble, so Al-attiyah led by mid-distance from a resurgent group of Stephane Peterhansel in the second Mini buggy and Qassimi’s Peugeot, the Minis of Orlando Terrannova and surprise package Viktor Zala’s AWD Mini.
Four punctures
Frenchman Mattieu Serradori set a fine sixth in his South Africa-built Century Buggy ahead of Bernhard Ten Brinke and Fernando Alonso in two more factory Toyotas, but South African hope Giniel de Villiers was languishing in 14th, suffering no less than four punctures in his Hilux. don’t make a major breakthrough with the second new ball which becomes available almost immediately on the fourth morning.
There is plenty of time left in the match and the one thought at the back of Root’s mind will be whether the pitch has become flatter and easier for survival or whether England have just bowled better in the match than their South African counterparts.
It was a backfoot day for the Proteas who only managed to add eight runs to their total for the last two wickets, both taken by Jimmy Anderson who took the 28th fifer of his international career to finish with 5/40 in 19 overs.
It gave England an important first innings lead of 46 runs.
Thereafter, attrition was the name of the game as the England batsmen attempted grind down the Protea attack that got little assistance out of the conditions to offer any encouragement.
It was another good day for the Sunfoil Education Trust (SET) that gained a further R151 000 from the boundaries and sixes hit and wickets taken by the two teams, bringing the cumulative total for the series to R411 000.