Border come short in T20 after three-day win over EP
Seyibokwe’s 78 in vain as rival openers set platform Rain puts the second Test on hold
EASTERN Province bounced back in style as they smashed their way to a massive nine-wicket victory over Border in their CSA Provincial T20 Challenge match at Buffalo Park yesterday afternoon. With Border having claimed a close three-wicket win on the final day of their Sunfoil three-day cup match on Saturday morning, EP were looking to gain some revenge which they achieved with minimal fuss.
The change of pitch, from the very unpredictable one that the batsmen battled on in the three-day game, seemed to do the trick for them.
The 329 runs scored in 36.1 overs between the two teams for just the loss of four wickets, showed that the pitch was suitable for shot-making.
Border set EP a challenging target of 165 after scoring 164 for three wickets, largely thanks to opener Somila Seyibokwe, who struck a top-class 58-ball 78 and being dismissed just three balls before the end of the innings.
However, EP’s openers were in no mood to stick around, as they hammered the poor Border bowling attack all over the park, sharing a 159 run first-wicket partnership and ending the match with the first ball of the 17th over at 165/1 when Michael Price took a single that took him to an undefeated 99. Edward Moore, who came in when David White (58) was dismissed in the 16th over, looked interested in going for the second but was turned back by Price, who was happy enough to just get the win.
Price and White began the run-chase in blistering form as they struck boundaries on either side of the wicket, after taking 14 off the first over.
They brought up the 50 partnership in the sixth over, off just 34 balls and continued with their relentless assault.
Price brought up his 50 off 34 balls, with EP’s 100 coming off the next ball, half way through the 11th over.
Price then upped-the-ante, striking two sixes in succession off Brandon Williams as well as a number of fours off other bowlers, while White enjoyed the batting show from the non-striker’s end.
White finally reached his half century in the 13th over, while EP passed the 150 in the next over.
Border then managed to make the breakthrough but it came far too late, as White’s 40-ball knock came to an end after being caught by Mkhululi Calana off the bowling of Yanda Pangabantu.
Price ended the match unbeaten on 99, having struck seven fours and seven sixes, as he took EP over the line.
Earlier, EP after winning the toss, put Border in to bat with openers Gionne Koopman and Seyibokwe looking to get Border off to a quick start.
Having reached 24 off 2.4 overs Tladi Bokaku then made the breakthrough by removing Koopman who was caught by Kelly Smuts for 10.
Border captain Martin Walters then joined Seyibokwe and the pair took Border past 50 in the seventh over.
They brought up their 50 partnership in the 10th over, with Seyibokwe reaching his half century in the 12th.
Walters was then dismissed in the 14th over, caught by Ngazibini Sigwili off Akhona Kula for 31, bringing Marco Marais to the crease.
Seyibokwe and Marais shared in a 40-run partnership off 33 balls, with Seyibokwe being dismissed for 78 caught by James Price off Kula after hitting eight boundaries and a six. Marais then smashed the last three balls of the innings for six, two, six to take Border to 164/3 and end unbeaten on 36 from only 20 balls, with three fours and two sixes. “RAIN, rain . . . ” a cheerleader’s voice shrilled from the loudspeakers at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore yesterday.
A crowd of a good few thousand delivered a kneejerk reply, “Go away!”
Sadly for the die-hards in the stands – and for India – the rain was still falling when play on day two of the second Test was abandoned at the scheduled tea interval.
Not that South Africa will be unhappy that significant time has drained out of the match, what with the home side being 80 without loss in reply to their first innings of 214.
More time could yet be lost. Yesterday’s forecast was for an 80% chance of rain. Today’s is 100%.
India’s plan is to bat big and bat once, as articulated yesterday by their bowling coach, Bharat Arun.
To shift the home side into the back seat, the Proteas will have to break the speed limit in dismissing them – and then fill up with high-octane runs. Only then can they think of putting pedal to the metal in a surge for victory. But that is a long way down a pot-holed road.
For now, Hashim Amla’s team would do well to shift gears and bowl and bat responsibly enough to keep India buckled up in the passenger seat while they nurse their misfiring car to a draw.
That done, they could at least set off for the third Test in Nagpur with the robot flashing the amber of a 0-1 series deficit rather than a 2-0 red.
Kyle Abbott no doubt has mixed feelings about all that. Yes, he wants to show what he can do after being called up as an emergency replacement for Vernon Philander with his football injury. When his phone rang in Durban early on Thursday morning, the last thing he would have expected was to be en route to Johannesburg minutes later. So much so that he only got the chance to brush his teeth once he had arrived at OR Tambo International.
While he was there, his cell phone rang again. It was David Miller: “Howzit ‘Abbo’. We’re going to the beach. Wanna come?” Perhaps between rinses, Abbott might have said: “I’d love to, bru, but something’s come up.”
Abbott shared the new ball with Morné Morkel on Saturday, and while he didn’t bowl as might have been feared for a man freshly-alighted from a longhaul flight, he also didn’t script the “fairytale” Hashim Amla had hoped for on Friday.
Then again, none of SA’s bowlers seemed to know how to get out of the parking lot in the 22 overs they bowled – although Morkel had a catch dropped.
Best SA fix their GPS, because if play resumes sooner rather than later they are going to have to drive this match like they stole it.