11 centuries, 8 five-wicket hauls in latest round of four-day matches.
Telford Vice | Cape Town
RYAN Rickelton banked his sixth score of 50 or more in his last nine first-class innings at the weekend. The wicketkeeper-batter’s 117 for the Lions followed an effort of 159 for the same team last month, which came after scores of 92 and 109 for South Africa A in June, and 58 and 194 for the Lions in March.
Rickelton’s latest feat was central to the Lions’ division one victory over Boland by an innings and 30 runs at the Wanderers. In the same division, the Titans hammered Western Province by an innings and 139 runs at Newlands thanks to first-innings hundreds by Grant Mokoena, Dean Elgar, Jiveshan Pillay and Ayabulela Gqamane. The Warriors beat North West by 130 runs in Potchefstroom with the help of undefeated centuries by Matthew Breetzke and Rudi Second, and the Dolphins and Knights drew at Kingsmead despite Matthew Kleinveldt’s unbeaten 177 — the highest score of the round — for the visitors. The 141 overs lost to rain and bad light on the first three days in Durban proved the deciding factor.
After three rounds, the Lions, having won all their matches, lead the division one standings. They are 15.26 points ahead of the Knights, who lead the Warriors by 3.7 points.
Noteworthy history was made in division two, where left-arm spinner Sean Whitehead followed the 66 he scored in the first innings for South Western Districts against Easterns in Oudtshoorn by taking 5/64. He made 45 in the second innings — and then claimed all 10 of Easterns’ wickets for 36.
That made Whitehead only the second player in first-class cricket to take five wickets in one innings, 10 in the other and score 100 or more runs in the same match. The other was EM Grace — the most prominent of WG’s three brothers — who made 192 not out and took 5/77 and 10/69 for Gentlemen of MCC against Gentlemen of Kent in Canterbury in August 1862. Whitehead’s 10-for was the fourth in first-class cricket in South Africa and the first since fast bowler Mario Olivier claimed 10/65 for the Warriors against the Eagles in Bloemfontein in November 2007.
At the Wanderers, Duanne Olivier and Sisanda Magala took four wickets each in Boland’s first innings of 170, of which Janneman Malan made 54. Rickelton’s ton and Kagiso Rapulana’s 65 — and their stand of 140 — steadied the Lions’ reply of 350. Rickelton was caught behind off fast bowler Ferisco Adams, who took 5/24 in a dozen overs. Olivier claimed 5/57 to finish with match figures of 9/95 as Boland shambled to 150 all out with No. 11 Siyabonga Mahima’s 32-ball 47 — 40 of them in boundaries — their top score.
WP chose to field first at Newlands, where the Titans batted for 172 overs before declaring at 647/7. As opening batters, Mokoena’s 154 and Elgar’s 117 — they shared 231 — didn’t raise eyebrows. But when No. 7 Pillay scored 113 not out and No. 9 Gqamane made an unbeaten 117 in an unbroken stand of 199, the annals were consulted. Turns out that’s not the highest eighth-wicket stand in first-class cricket in South Africa, but it’s only the sixth time four centuries have been scored in an innings in the country and just the second time in a game not involving at least one national or international team.
Off-spinner Simon Harmer snapped up 7/76 as WP crashed to 195 all out, their last nine wickets tumbling for 103. The home side followed on, and although Daniel Smith made 83 and Kyle Verreynne 50 in a decent total of 313, the damage had been done in the first innings. Harmer and slow left-armer Neil Brand shared six wickets, which gave Harmer match figures of 10/225.
Edward Moore’s 79, Lesiba Ngoepe’s 88 and Diego Rosier’s 52, and Alindile Mhletywa’s patient 46, which came off 131 balls, helped the Warriors reach 334 in Potch. The visitors lost their last four wickets for one run.
North West mustered 350 in reply, thanks to another three half-centuries — Wesley Marshall made 94, Delano Potgieter 74 and Nicky van der Bergh 64 not out. Medium pacer Mthiwekhaya Nabe and slow left-armer Tsepo Ndwandwa took seven wickets between them.
Breetzke and Moore — who scored 55 — shared 118 for the Warriors’ first wicket, and Breetzke and Second put on 170 for the unbroken third. Breetzke was 152 not out and Second scored an unbeaten 103.
The declaration of 364/2 left North West a target of 349, but they were dismissed for 218 inside 70 overs with Marshall making 65 and Van den Bergh 64. Nabe and left-arm wrist spinner Lizo Makhosi took three wickets each.
There were also three each at Kingsmead for Knights fast bowlers Gerald Coetzee, left-armer Mbulelo Budaza and Alfred Mothoa in the Dolphins’ first innings of 226. Kleinveldt’s sturdy performance and Jacques Snyman’s 94 — they put on 155 for the first wicket — allowed the visitors to declare at 397/4. The Dolphins began their second innings 171 behind, and were three ahead with five wickets standing when the draw was declared.
Whitehead’s heroics helped SWD beat Easterns by 120 runs — and that after the home side were 5/3 on their way to a total of 193 in a second innings in which the visitors used nine bowlers. Asked to chase 186, Easterns were shot out for 65 in 25.1 overs. Oddly, they lost more than one wicket in an over only once.
In another division two match, KwaZulu-Natal Inland beat Border by seven wickets in East London. Thomas Kaber’s 103 not out powered Border’s first innings of 384, but Tshepang Dithole made 162 to bolster the visitors’ reply of 384 in which left-arm wrist spinner Kaber took 5/109. The home side were rattled out for 106 in 51.5 overs with slow left-armer Luke Schlemmer snapping up 6/31. That left KZN Inland a target of just 107, which they reached in 21.4 overs.
Limpopo and Northern Cape drew their division two game in Polokwane. Off-spinner Aubrey Swanepoel took 7/56 in the home side’s first innings of 290. Northern Cape’s reply of 350 hinged on Rivaldo Moonsamy’s 101. Limpopo were dismissed for 185 with Swanepoel claiming 4/65 to complete a match haul of 11/121. The visitors chased 126 to win, and were only five runs away with three wickets in hand when the match ended.
KZN Inland and Border top the division two standings with 34.46 points each. Matches involving Limpopo and Mpumalanga are not first-class.
First published by Cricbuzz.
Bulletproof Truth 