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Jacob Oram, trying to figure out just how his worth was perceived to be $US675,000 for the Indian Premier League’s Chennai franchise, the Super Kings, says his priority is still with New Zealand. While he was very excited to be a part of the inaugural Twenty20 tournament, whose eight teams were finalised in a much-hyped auction in Mumbai yesterday, Oram remained unsure about the extent of his participation.The 44-day competition, starting on April 18, clashes with New Zealand’s tour of England and Oram was waiting for details to be worked through with New Zealand Cricket. “Playing for New Zealand and the English tour is priority No.1,” he told the website sportal.co.nz.”It is massive money they are throwing around and the IPL have stated that this is here to stay and everything around the IPL has just been out of the top drawer so while it is going to be great opportunity and experience to be part of it for me No.1 is still going to be to go back and play for New Zealand.””I’ll need warm-ups in England. I’ll need preparation that is the same as for other tours which is to get myself right for Test matches which is every cricketers’ No.1 goal.”Oram said that his view was shared by Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum, who have also been snapped up by IPL franchises. “I don’t want to get into a situation where I turn up two or three days before the Lord’s Test and have egg on my face because I’m not prepared for a Test match because they are two totally different games.”I would need to prepare as I would any other Test match which means I get overs under my belt and time at the crease,” he said. “”It changes your life and security for us for the future and family, if that comes around, so it is a massive shift in my whole life.”Oram, who will be play alongside the likes of Stephen Fleming, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Muttiah Muralitharan, Matthew Hayden, Albie Morkel, Makhaya Ntini and Michael Hussey for Chennai, felt the atmosphere in the dressing room would be something to look forward to.”I’ve never been in a situation where that sort of money is being thrown around or talked about and to be right in the mix of it is quite surreal…and pleasant,” he said. “We were just sitting at the hotel having a few beers celebrating Jamie’s [How’s] wonderful knock, the wonderful game that it was.”We were getting second-hand information through friends and family. When I first head it I didn’t want to believe it until I saw it for myself in black and white on the internet and when I saw that it took my breath away to be honest.”

South Africa 319 for 3 (de Kock 135, Amla 127) beat England 318 for 8 (Root 125, Hales 65, Stokes 53) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details2:05

‘Showed a lot of hunger on the field’ – De Villiers

A century of the highest class from Quinton de Kock helped South Africa complete the highest successful run chase in an ODI at Centurion and keep the series against England alive.With England having won the first two games in the five-match series, South Africa required a win to sustain their hopes of avoiding their first double defeat – in the Test and ODI sections of a tour – at home for 14 years.But when they conceded 318 it left them requiring a record run chase at this ground on a pitch that had appeared cracked and two-paced during the England innings.Yet they made light of their target, with an opening stand of 239 in 36.5 overs between de Kock and Hashim Amla racing them to victory with seven wickets and 22 deliveries remaining. They made it appear easy.It is a pretty special batting performance that eclipses a century from Amla, but so sweetly did de Kock time the ball, so wide was his range of stroke, so little margin for error did he allow the bowlers that a pitch on which few England batsmen looked comfortable was made to appear something approaching a batting paradise.The statistics of his de Kock’s career are worth dwelling upon for a moment. Despite only celebrating his 23rd birthday in December, this was his 10th ODI century in his 55th match. To put that in perspective, nobody has reached the milestone at a younger age (Virat Kohli was the previous holder of that record) and it is as many ODIs centuries as Graeme Smith managed in his entire 196-match ODI career.England will be relieved South Africa did not select de Kock earlier in the Test series. He has now scored three centuries against them (one in the Centurion Test and two in this ODI series) in his last four international games.Such is his ability, he forces bowlers to alter their natural length and then punishes the resultant full or short deliveries. Twice in the first over, he eased David Willey through the covers for four. Minutes later he was treating Reece Topley the same way and following it with a perfectly timed drive straight back past the bowler.Moeen Ali’s first delivery was delightfully late cut for four before he was slog-swept for six and when the seamers dropped short in search of a solution, they were pulled with dismissive power. One pick-up pull for six off a Chris Jordan delivery that was only fractionally short was probably the stroke of the day.With both sides set to name their World T20 squads on Wednesday, there was food for thought here for England. Despite all the progress they have made, with their batting in particular, their bowling attack remains both green and a little lacking in pace. In conditions where there is little swing available, they lack the weapons to dislodge well-set batsmen. Steven Finn might have made a difference, but there may also be a temptation to recall Stuart Broad, an unused member of this ODI squad.Amla was only marginally less impressive than de Kock. Using his crease to upset the line of the England bowlers, he stroked some balls off his off stump through midwicket and others through extra-cover. When the bowlers reacted by bowling wider of off stump, he unveiled that familiar, flowing drive that has featured in each of his 22 ODI centuries. Only AB de Villiers, with 23, has scored more for South Africa.Earlier the biggest of Joe Root’s seven ODI centuries took England to an apparently challenging total. By the time South Africa struck for the fourth time, they could have been quietly satisfied with their work. Jos Buttler, again promoted to No. 4 to build upon the strong start from England’s top order, had fallen first ball clipping to an intriguingly placed leg gully, while Eoin Morgan had laboured for 24 deliveries over his eight runs.But then Ben Stokes joined Root in a fifth-wicket stand of 82 in eight overs that took England’s total from the average to the strong. While Root was not entirely fluent in the early stages of innings, so wide is his range of stroke and so impressive his fitness levels that even when he was struggling to find the boundary, he was accumulating steadily. His 125 was the highest ODI score made by an England batsman against South Africa.Recognising that, once the shine had left the ball, the pitch became somewhat sluggish, Root started to skip down the pitch to hit the seamers off their length and over mid-on. With the bowlers struggling to hit upon a length that contained him, he punished the resulting short balls with one uppercut for six off Morne Morkel the stroke of the innings. Twice he thrashed full-tosses from Imran Tahir for six over mid-wicket.He gave one chance, on 44, when de Kock was unable to lay a hand on a tough chance offered off the bowling of David Wiese – a dab to third man that went a little finer than Root intended – but that moment apart, it was another masterful innings by Root.While de Kock went on to redeem himself, perhaps a key passage of play occurred far earlier. With seven overs and a delivery remaining of their innings, England had six wickets in hand, two batsmen well set and a target in excess of 330 in their sights.But then Root was run-out following a mix-up with Stokes – Root’s drive crashed into the stumps at the non-striker’s end and, in the confusion, the pair were caught mid-pitch – and Kyle Abbott, in particular, bowled with control and skill to stall the charge. He dismissed Stokes and Jordan with successive deliveries and, in five overs up to the end of the 48th over, England added just 24 runs.Such is the depth of England’s batting, that even their No.9 and No.10 – two men with 12 first-class centuries between them – are capable of attacking and Adil Rashid and Willey struck a six apiece in plundering 25 from the final two overs. But perhaps that lost momentum in the final seven overs cost them dear.Maybe Eoin Morgan will also reflect on his decision to bat first. de Villiers made no secret of his desire to bowl first, had he won the toss, and it did appear that conditions eased for batsmen as the lights came into play and the light dew allowed the ball to come on to the bat a little more readily.Or it may just be that, as with the best innings, the quality of the batting made it seem that way. The sense remains that, whatever England did with the ball and whenever they bowled, on this form de Kock was too good for them.

The West Indies captain Jason Holder declined an offer to make a game of the rain-ruined third Test against Australia in Sydney because he did not think his side was ready to try to go for the win.In a scenario that the Caribbean side would have struggled to create over a full five-day match against Australia, the hosts’ captain Steven Smith offered Holder the chance to defend 370 runs off 70 overs on the final day, with Australia declaring their first innings at 0 for 0 then offering scoring opportunities to the visitors. Smith’s disappointment at the offer being refused was plain.”We want to try and win every game we play and today was a perfect opportunity to set the game up for a good chase and for the fans that stayed out this afternoon,” Smith said. “For us that would have potentially been me bowling with three slips and two gullies and leaving every man up for them to try and hit as many as they can to try and make sure they left 370 off 70 as promised to them.”Whatever you have to do to get that on the board was going to happen. No-one really wants to see a draw, they want to see a good, exciting cricket and teams winning. We were willing to give them 70 overs on a day-five wicket and we were going to go after the runs. 370 off 70 overs is quite a lot of runs, I think that is fair game for both teams, as I said it was just disappointing that they weren’t willing to come to the party.”A crowd of 6865 took advantage of free admission to come to the SCG on the final day, and Smith’s intention overnight had been to give them a spectacle. The game is more cynical about contrived results after the days of the former South Africa captain Hansie Cronje, who once made a similar offer to the England captain Nasser Hussain on the final day of a Test at Centurion in 1999-2000 on behalf of bookmakers. However, Smith said the coach Darren Lehmann had checked the ICC playing conditions and code of conduct before making the offer.”I spoke to a few of the senior guys, but that was the number I was looking at over night and this morning if the sun was going to come out and we could play,” Smith said of the 370 target. “I spoke to Boof who read through the rules, which said you’re allowed to do that kind of thing. That was on our cards today and as I said unfortunately they didn’t come to the party.”For Holder’s part, his team has made subtle improvements this summer, but their bowling has been a major weakness throughout, as evidenced by how David Warner rattled to a century from only 82 balls on the final afternoon. Like Allan Border leading a similarly weakened Australia in the mid-1980s, Holder felt that his team must learn how better to avoid defeat before victory can be pursued.”He [Smith] came to us and made an offer, I just went back to the team and we thought at this stage of our development it wasn’t the best thing for us,” Holder said. “We had [Denesh] Ramdin who was scoring well and looking well, so just give him the encouragement to go out there and build an innings and build some confidence.”We set out at the beginning of the series to bat 90 overs each time we batted and get past the 300 mark. That was one of the things that we wanted to achieve today and we achieved that. It was a team vote, team decision. At that stage of our development and the phase we’re at we thought it was the best thing for the team.”We started in Hobart and we didn’t play well at all there, we showed improvement in Melbourne and we just had to come here to improve as well. I think we just need to take it step by step, it’s not a case where you can just jump from losing Test matches to winning in one transition, especially against good opposition like Australia.”The West Indies tour ended on a note of personal loss for opening batsman Rajendra Chandrika, whose father Baljit died suddenly overnight in the Caribbean. Both sides wore black armbands out of respect.

ScorecardFile photo – CM Gautam’s fighting fifty was not enough as Karnataka’s 34-match unbeaten streak came to an end•PTI

Pacer Nikit Dhumal picked up five wickets in the second innings, to add to three in the first, to halt Karnataka’s 37-match unbeaten streak in first-class cricket and knock them out of the Ranji Trophy. Anupam Sanklecha, who took four wickets, including the last two, ably complemented Dhumal, as Karnataka were dismissed for 239, chasing 293 in Pune.Robin Uthappa began positively on the last day, hitting his 46th first-class fifty. However, he could not convert it into a big score and was pinned lbw by Sanklecha. The majority of the middle order fumbled, leaving much to do for CM Gautam and the lower order. He rallied with Vinay Kumar and S Aravind but eventually ran out of partners. Gautam remained unbeaten on 65 off 104 balls, including seven fours, as Karnataka came up short by 53 runs. Mahasrashtra, who were already out of contention for the quarter-finals, finished the season with a consolation win.
ScorecardAfter having struck 110 with the bat, Ravi Jangid bowled Vidarbha to the knockouts with career-best figures of 7-59, which took his wickets tally in the match to 11. Jangid had toiled away for 41 overs and was assisted by spinner Akshay Wakhare who bowled 31.1 overs for two wickets. Yuzvendra Chahal, coming in at No.10 delayed the final rites with 0 off 77 balls.Haryana, though, had begun well before falling away. Having been asked to follow on, Haryana had a solid platform thanks to Nitin Saini (42) and Mohit Hooda (38). Rohit Sharma scored his maiden first-class century even as he lacked substantial support from the middle and lower order. He was the ninth batsman, dismissed by Jangid, for 107 off 241 balls, as Haryana were bowled out for 232, nine less than their first-innings effort.
ScorecardAssam just about held on for a draw against Bengal in Guwahati, a result which ensured that both teams booked their berth for the Ranji knockouts. Assam, following on, needed at least 301 to make Bengal bat again, but as was the case in their first innings, the majority of their top and middle order failed to make good on their starts. Pallavkumar Das top-scored with 55, but offspinner Aamir Gani’s five-wicket haul meant Assam lost wickets at regular intervals. Luckily for the hosts, though, a wet outfield before the start, and bad light towards the end of the day meant only 48 overs of play were possible, with Assam hanging on at 143 for 8.

Dimitri Mascarenhas, England’s only representative at the IPL, believes the recent spate of players around county cricket saying they have turned down offers to play in India is because counties haven’t given their permission rather than the players not wanting to go.Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara, who have both been in action for England Lions at the New Zealanders, have rejected IPL offers saying they want to concentrate on their international careers. After his first day hundred at The Rose Bowl, Wright said: “It was never really something I questioned at time, but it’s bad timing and all I want to do is play for England.””I read with interest that Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara turned down the IPL this week but, to be honest, it might not be that straightforward,” Mascarenhas said in his column. “I’m speculating here, but I reckon it’s more the fact that, at this late stage, their counties have refused them permission to go. I doubt very much whether the players themselves would turn it down.”I was lucky because my approach came at a much earlier stage and I was able to come to an agreement with Hampshire that kept everyone happy. English players will be here next year, believe me.”Mascarenhas’s stint with the Rajasthan Royals, alongside former Hampshire team-mate Shane Warne, ends on Sunday and he has yet to take the field for his franchise. Each team is only allowed to field four overseas players and Mascarenhas hasn’t been able to force his way past Warne, Sohail Tanvir, Shane Watson and Graeme Smith. However, he hopes to be back for the semis and final if Rajasthan, who are currently top of the table, progress to the knock-out stage.”I would love to come back for the finale at the end of May and negotiations are taking place between the Royals management and Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove,” he said. “I am very hopeful I will be able to help the Royals lift the inaugural trophy.”I haven’t had much of an opportunity to show what I can do here but if I am able to play in the semi-finals and final it would help earn me a bigger contract in next year’s event.”A Hampshire spokesman confirmed the talks were between Mascarenhas, Bransgrove and Paul Terry, the coach, about his possible return to the IPL.

The ICC has told Sunil Gavaskar that he would have to quit from the post of the chairman of the cricket committee if he wishes to continue as a media columnist and commentator to avoid a potential conflict of interest between the two roles.Gavaskar was told “very clearly” by Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, during a meeting between the two in Dubai on Wednesday that the ICC expected a final decision. The ICC’s cricket committee will meet on May 5-6 and Gavaskar has been given the same deadline. The ICC board will review the issue at its next meeting, during the ICC Annual Conference week, between June 29 and July 4.Speed had last week been authorised by the ICC board to ask Gavaskar to choose between the two roles. “That situation still stands, and Gavaskar will have to convey his decision to the ICC after the cricket committee meeting,” an ICC source told Cricinfo. “The message was conveyed very clearly to Gavaskar. But the meeting, as such, was held in a cordial atmosphere. Speed and Gavaskar have been working together for so long, that was not a problem.”The issue of a potential conflict of interest came up in the aftermath of the Sydney Test between Australia and India last January, when Gavaskar criticised match referee Mike Procter in his newspaper column for banning Harbhajan Singh for alleged racial abuse.After the ICC’s executive board meeting in Dubai last week, Gavaskar criticised the boards of England and Australia in another syndicated newspaper column. “Gone are the days when two countries, England and Australia, had the veto power in international cricket, even though the dinosaurs may not open their eyes and see the reality,” he wrote. “The cricketing world has found that India has no longer a diffident voice but a confident one that knows what is good for its cricket, and will strive to get it.”

Todd Murphy is in the mix to play in the fourth Ashes Test at the MCG after he was named as Australia’s replacement for the injured Nathan Lyon in their 15-man squad but coach Andrew McDonald did not rule out playing four quicks at the MCG as the selectors also debate the make-up of the top seven with Steven Smith confirmed to return as captain.Jhye Richardson is also in contention to play his first Test in four years, with Pat Cummins ruled out of the remainder of the series as he continues to manage his back injury. Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland are fit to play in Melbourne despite Boland copping a knock on the hip while batting in Adelaide. It appears unlikely that Richardson would leap-frog either Michael Neser or Brendan Doggett if Australia played a spinner but that could change if they opt for four quicks depending on how the surface develops over the next few days, with McDonald not ruling anything out on Tuesday.Lyon, who turned 38 last month, tore his right hamstring while fielding on the final day of Australia’s 82-run win at Adelaide Oval and Cricket Australia confirmed that he will be sidelined for “an extended period” after undergoing surgery on Tuesday morning, having seen a specialist in Melbourne on Monday. McDonald said that Lyon is going to face a “long” recovery.Related

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Meanwhile, Australia’s coach also said that the selectors face some difficult decisions around the batting order in Melbourne with Smith set to return at No.4 and putting a squeeze on the middle order. McDonald said he liked the Travis Head-Jake Weatherald combination at the top and was keen to maintain it. He also believed Usman Khawaja was back to his best in the middle-order and hinted that the 39-year-old could well keep his spot and potentially slide to No.5.”I’m not willing to say Uz will be a lock but what he’s done is he’s performed really well, [122] runs in that game at late notice,” McDonald said on Tuesday. “I felt as though he’s back to that attacking sort of play.”He’s still a good player, and age shouldn’t factor into any of our decision-making.”McDonald said that he would push for Carey to stay at No.6.”Alex Carey at six, I like what he’s doing there,” McDonald said. “So my assumption is, and I’ll have a little bit of a say in that, that he’ll stay six.”What that means for Cameron Green and Josh Inglis is an unknown. Green started the series at No.6 and has moved to No.5 in his last three innings but after butchering two starts in Perth and Brisbane he endured a tough game with the bat in Adelaide. McDonald was careful with his words around the 26-year-old allrounder.”The returns haven’t been there, but we’ve also seen what capabilities and the upside that he has and he’s an important part of what we’re setting out to achieve in the short-term and the long-term,” McDonald said. “He’s a very good cricketer, and I’m sure that his next opportunity, he’ll be able to show that whenever that may.”If the only spot for the allrounder was at No.7, that would open the possibility for a Beau Webster recall given he is clearly more comfortable in the No.7 role given his experience with Tasmania, albeit Green remains a key part of Australia’s future.Murphy, the 25-year-old offspinner, has been chosen as his replacement ahead of CA-contracted Matthew Kuhnemann, leading Shield offspinner Corey Rocchiccioli and four-Test veteran legspinner Mitchell Swepson.Murphy has taken 22 wickets at 28.13 in his seven Tests to date – all of them away from home – and has taken six wickets at 25.33 in his three Sheffield Shield games at the MCG for Victoria.If he plays in Melbourne it will be the first time Australia have selected a lone specialist spinner at home who isn’t Lyon in 14 years.Murphy replaced Lyon during the 2023 Ashes, playing at Headingley and The Oval as Australia’s sole spinner. He was part of a three-man spin attack alongside Lyon and Kuhnemann in his most recent Test in Galle earlier this year, but was left out of the second Test at the same venue when Australia opted for some extra batting and part-time spin from Cooper Connolly, with Kuhnemann’s left-arm orthodox preferred as the best tandem option with Lyon.Steven Smith will return to captain Australia•Getty Images

However, in home conditions Kuhnemann is not seen as Lyon’s clear understudy with left-arm orthodox traditionally having little impact in Australia. Murphy has bowled well this year after a difficult Shield season last season due to a shoulder issue.He has 10 wickets at 23.70, striking at 55.80, but has not bowled a lot due to the dominance of Victoria’s seamers. He was selected ahead of Rocchiccioli for the Australia A game in the recent game against England Lions in Brisbane where he took three wickets.Rocchiccioli, 28, can count himself unlucky having been the leading spinner in Shield cricket in recent years with his extra height and bounce proving a handful for Shield batters on his home ground at the WACA. He has 20 wickets at 28.20 so far this summer, striking at 53.30 after taking 38 at 27.71 last season.He has played two games at the MCG including for Australia A against India A last year and against Victoria last month, taking eight wickets at 23.50. Rocchiccioli only took three in the recent game against Victoria, with the home side’s spin-bowling allrounder Matt Short taking a match-winning 4 for 57 in the third innings while Murphy was away on Australia A duty.”It’s always pretty robust around when you’ve got three, three potential candidates, or even four,” McDonald said. “Todd’s been an important part of key overseas series. He played in the last ashes back in 2023, and we feel as though Todd’s back to to his best.”I spoke to Todd this morning, really excited for him to be back around the group. We’ve got some decisions make. I just had a look at the wicket then. Do we play spinner? Don’t we play spinner? We’ll work through that. But it was an interesting conversation with the spin depth we do have, which is full recognition to those also that were discussed.”MCG curator Matt Page said spin would play a role in the Test as it did in the Shield game last month and when Lyon and Travis Head took key wickets on the final day in the win over India.”We had a great Shield game here,” Page said. “We obviously had some really challenging weather leading to that. I think the pitch sat under covers for three days. It was really cool, which is not ideal for pitch prep. But the pitch did everything that we wanted it to. I think we had two fast bowlers get five-fors, a couple of guys got hundreds, and Matt Short got four in the [third] innings.”So for us, it’s about trying to give everyone a chance in the game at certain points. The Shield pitch has done that. I guess that gives us good confidence, leading into this.”Australia squad: Steven Smith (capt), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster.

Scorecard

The weather gods tried to upset play on the second day at Lord’s, but Middlesex scrapped and clawed their way back into the reckoning against Glamorgan. With Tim Murtagh prising out three quick wickets before the close, Glamorgan hobbled to stumps trailing by 223 runs.Murtagh bowled seven lively overs unchanged from the Nursery End in perfect late-afternoon sunshine, finding one to hold its line on Matthew Wood, whose feet were planted. Glamorgan were 0 for 1 and in spite of the seemingly perfect batting conditions, Murtagh and Chris Silverwood were moving the ball prodigously. After clipping two neat fours David Hemp was bowled through the gate by a cracking off-cutter which jarred down the slope, and Gareth Rees – who was earlier struck a nasty blow between the knees – poked tentatively at one which held its line on the off stump.Mike Powell – Glamorgan’s dogfighter – was the first Glamorgan batsman to move his feet noticably and benefitted accordingly, on-driving Murtagh for four past mid-on to alleviate the drought Middlesex’s bowlers had imposed. Together with Jamie Dalrymple, making his Glamorgan debut against his former team-mates, the pair guided their side to relative safety in the dying light.That Murtagh and Silverwood were able to impose such pressure with the ball was down to Middlesex’s gritty determination with the bat. Only ten, turgid overs were possible in between the morning rain but after lunch, Murtagh in particular showed composure and class in his brief but valuable 22. The inconsistent David Harrison was cover-driven for four, and he followed it up with the day’s most elegant off drive to nudge Middlesex past 250.Still, as impressive as Murtagh’s brief innings was, Middlesex were most indebted to David Nash, who resumed on 53. Orthodox is not an adjective often used to describe Middlesex’s wicketkeeper but today, in difficult seaming conditions, he was just that. Using the crease well, he nudged Harrison repeatedly through the leg side and twice back-cut Ryan Watkins – whose energy was admirable, if not so his line and length – for delicate fours, albeit with the impish charm that befits wicketkeeper-batsmen.Nash received good support from Gareth Berg, a Kolpak-qualified South African making his Championship debut, with whom he put on 61 for the sixth wicket. Berg was confident off the back foot, flaying Watkins through extra cover before pulling him through midwicket, but Robert Croft out-thought him on 33 when he bat-padded a cleverly-flighted delivery. Silverwood added a swift and agricultural 16, but Nash was last-man out four short of a deserved hundred when he wellied Alex Wharf to short square-leg. Nevertheless, 308 represented somewhat of a recovery from yesterday’s 198 for 5.As the light drew in Powell survived a very confident appeal for lbw from Steven Finn, Middlesex’s immensely promising 6ft 8in fast bowler, but Glamorgan were spared further loss. Not since 1954 have Glamorgan celebrated a win at Lord’s, and they face an uphill haul if they are to end that 54-year drought over the final two days.

ScorecardScotland have a scent of victory against Namibia in Windhoek despite a career-best six-wicket haul from Kola Burger. Half centuries from Fraser Watts and Qasim Sheikh enabled Scotland to reach a lead of 236, then John Blain struck three blows late in the day to leave the home side struggling.After an opening day when 20 wickets fell it looked as though a similar pattern would unfold again as Douglas Lockhart fell in the first over. Watts and Sheikh then produced the first period of the match where the bat dominated, adding 111 in 41 overs.But the fall of Watts, lbw to Burger for 54, began another collapse as nine wickets went for 100 with Burger claiming the key duo of Ryan Watson and Gavin Hamilton in consecutive balls. Craig Wright, at No. 9, was the only other batsman to reach double figures.There was something in the pitch throughout, so chasing 237 was never going to be an easy task and Namibia made an unsteady start. Blain immediately set to work adding to his first-innings haul of 5 for 48 dispatching both openers and Gerrie Snyman with just 16 on the board. Sarel and Louis Burger managed to negotiate the final passage of play to leave a tense third day in prospect.

LOOTS Bosman and Jon Bastow provided the highlights on an otherwiseforgettable opening day of this low-key match between two of the SupersportSeries also-rans.Stumps were drawn with Natal having reached 88 without loss in reply toGriqualand West’s 279. Mark Bruyns was 33 not out with Doug Watson on 46.Griquas batsman Bosman swashed and buckled a sparkling 71 off 79 balls withnine fours and three sixes, while Bastow bowled with line, length and fireto take four for 46.Natal captain Dale Benkenstein put the opposition in on a greentop afterwinning the toss. However, his bowlers, bar Bastow, wasted both the pitchand the new ball.Bastow had the idea – just short of a length on off-stump – and was rewardedwith both the wickets that fell before lunch, which came with Griquas havingput a healthy 133 runs on the board.The visitors were reduced to 35 for two in the 11th over, but that didn’ttrouble Bosman, who went after the bowling as if his team were 400 for two.Opener Martyn Gidley proved more staid, but the partnership grew quicklyuntil Bosman was caught behind off Bastow in the seventh over of the secondsession to end a stand of 112.Gidley hung about for another eight overs before suffering a similar fate toBosman, this time at the hands of Eldine Baptiste, after scoring 60.And that, but for Pieter Koortzen’s brisk 32 – which featured six fours -and Wendell Bossenger’s rearguard 45, was where Griquas’ better battingended. The rest of it crumbled quietly away.Wayne Kidwell bowled aggressively in his opening spell, and he seemed tohave earned success when the visitors celebrated what they believed wasWatson being caught behind for 16.Watson believed it too, and tucked his bat under his arm and walked thefirst few metres of the journey back to the dressing room before casuallyglancing over his shoulder at umpire Johan Cloete – who had not raised hisfinger. So Watson veered back towards the crease and prepared to continue hisinnings, amid the gobsmacked Griquas players. Whether the batsman hadmisheard Cloete verbally pronouncing him not out was unclear, but it wasthat sort of day.