da bet nacional： TClose Day 2: CFX Academy 200/8 declared; Midlands 89/3
da bet vitoria： John Ward03-Mar-2001TClose Day 2: CFX Academy 200/8 declared; Midlands 89/3.After a comparatively dry night, the Midlands officials and ground staff,who spared no effort to get this match going against almost insurmountableodds, worked hard again to repair the outfield. A submersible pump had beenused on the first day to drain the field, and finally play started inextremely soggy conditions at 11.10 on the second morning. Fortunately thepitch had been well covered and was probably the only dry patch of ground inthis part of Africa.The Academy won the toss and not unnaturally put Midlands in to bat; themost likely way for an uncontrived result in what has now become a two-daymatch is for the side batting first to collapse. Batsmen and bowlers alikestruggled with the conditions, and Academy opening bowler Campbell McMillantwice slipped and bowled balls high over the batsman’s head. JohnVaughan-Davies (7) and Ray Price (14) played positively but did not lastlong, with Nyasha Chari dismissing the latter to a low gully catch with hisfourth ball in first-class cricket.Then came a 118-run partnership between Colin Delport and Craig Wishart, thelatter with a point to prove after being dropped from the Board XI. Bothbatted well despite the handicap of a sodden field that was too wet to cut,and Wishart ran to his fifty off 95 balls. He took heavy toll of IanCoulson’s left-arm spin until he tried once too often to hoist him over thesquare-leg boundary and holed out to Blessing Mahwire; 145 for three.Delport soon followed with his maiden first-class fifty, but after thatwickets fell regularly. Captain Doug Marillier (9) pulled a hard low catchto midwicket and then Delport (55) holed out on the leg boundary. JustinLewis, who comes from the Midlands, was the fielder, and he had a hand inthe next two wickets as well, catching Craig Grant first ball at sillymid-off and running out Doug Hondo as the batsmen tried to steal a single.With the score 186 for eight at tea, the Academy had wrested back theinitiative. But attacking batting and inconsistent bowling, despite goodfielding, enabled the batsmen to keep the scoring rate at about three runsto the over.A quick flurry of runs after tea, mostly in steady drizzle, enabled Midlandsto declare at 200 for eight. Most of the bowling was done by spinners IanCoulson (left-arm, three wickets) and Barney Rogers, captain for the match(off-spin, two wickets).Friend, still recovering from his stress fracture incurred in Australia, isplaying as a specialist batsman, so Vaughan-Davies achieved the rare feat ofopening both batting and bowling in the same match. Terry Duffin and WisdomSiziba struggled to survive, but held firm to put on 44 before Siziba wasunluckily adjudged lbw to Colin Sanders – who incidentally runs the localhotel where the visiting teams stay – for 20.Duffin (22) and Andre Neethling fell before the close, play continuingapparently by mutual agreement well into the twilight. Midlands finished at89 for three.
