"You'll never beat the Villa," gloated the visiting fans as West Bromwich Albion's followers slunk away from The Hawthorns. After scoring 39 unconvincing runs, he was overwhelmed by a fast inswinger from Lee. As usual he departed grumpily, a reaction that provoked hostile comments from parts of a packed ground.. He played some stirring cover drives before dipping his spoon into the treacle once too often, bowled between bat and pad by McGrath's off-cutter Smith did not long survive his partner. Smith has taken much upon his shoulders, while Gibbs is striving to find a tempo midway between cavalier and roundhead.
Abraham de Villiers has lost confidence and, after being badly dropped at second slip by the home captain, he was beaten for pace by a full-length delivery and taken behind the wicket. Ricky Ponting must have hoped to mark his 100th Test match with something better than a lost toss and a grassed catch.Smith and Herschelle Gibbs tried hard to subdue some difficult pace bowling as Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee hammered away at their defences. Scoring an unbeaten 62 in demanding conditions against the Australians in Sydney takes a man a long way down that path.Until the third-wicket pair came together, the Australians had the better of proceedings after the start had been delayed until after lunch by a furnace-relieving deluge. By stumps he had made 80 not out in 181 deliveries.Prince, robbed by a poor decision in his previous appearance and tormented throughout the series by Shane Warne, has refused to lose heart. A squat left-hander, he collected busily square of the wicket and towards the end unfurled some handsome off-drives.
Categorised under the old dispensation as a "Coloured", he has spoken out against favourable treatment, arguing that he wants to prove himself as a legitimate Test match batsman. Kallis went about his work with the classical restraint detected in his game since his marriage. Troubled around off-stump by movement off the seam, he remained unruffled and took advantage of some loose offerings from Stuart MacGill. Joining forces at 86 for 3 and with the ball darting around like an inebriated swallow, Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince set about the reconstruction of the innings with gritted teeth and firm jaw. Fighting for every run, they resisted pace bowlers favoured by a pitch freshened by overnight rain and presently turned their attentions to spinners unable to find any purchase in a grassy surface. Both batsmen played uncommonly well.
"That is the thing with horses," he added, "you just never know what will happen.". A resolute and unbroken partnership constructed under leaden skies and comprising 144 runs has saved South Africa from calamity after Graeme Smith had won an awkward toss and gamely taken first innings in the third Test here yesterday. They will flatten him a bit."In a last-man-standing Gold Cup field Beef Or Salmon is the only contender with a Grade One win to his name as a senior. His Lexus Chase victory six days ago was his seventh at that level and his next outing is a tilt at another, the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Leopardstown next month. "He's in good order," said trainer Michael Hourigan yesterday, while expressing sympathy for his Irish rivals, the Taaffe camp. "But to keep the infection away he's going to need an awful lot of antibiotics and this has a big downing effect on anything, whether it be man or beast. Having drifted to 49-1, Harchibald was at one point down to 9.5-1."I don't know if he is definitely out of the Champion, we will play it day by day," said Meade.
On Sunday, the view of his trainer, Noel Meade, was that it would take "a miracle" for the horse to make the Champion Hurdle. Yesterday, after vets removed some pieces of hurdle birch from one of his forelegs, the picture was less clear cut. If they want, punters can continue to trade on the chances of an injured horse."Harchibald is very much a case in point. Over 90 per cent wanted us to continue on a caveat emptor basis and for us to intervene only where punters profited, or attempted to profit, from a horse dying This is now our set policy. Such is the nature of exchanges where, it seems, only death is a deterrent to optimism or greed."After Best Mate died," added Calvin, "we conducted a survey of our users into how they wanted us to operate our ante-post markets. "This is the first time that connections have been in touch before news was given or leaked out," said the exchange's spokesman Tony Calvin, "and fair play to him."After the situation before the last Gold Cup he wanted to avoid any confusion, but to think of telling us, at a time when most owners would not have had the thoughts of punters or the public foremost at heart, reflects huge credit on him."Betfair have placed Kicking King at the bottom of the trading list, the accepted red-alert to an injury problem, but even though there will be no Lazarus impersonation this time round - statements on his prognosis are unequivocal - there were still some backers willing to take a chance yesterday.