This match is set up for what could be an exciting finishtomorrow morning, as Manicaland, set the highest total of thematch for victory, 210, finished the day more than halfway there,on 117 with three wickets down
John Ward11-Mar-2000This match is set up for what could be an exciting finishtomorrow morning, as Manicaland, set the highest total of thematch for victory, 210, finished the day more than halfway there,on 117 with three wickets down. On the first day both inningshad been dominated by one player; a third and less experiencedplayer was to stand out in the Matabeleland second innings.Development player Wisdom Sibiza, making his first-class debut,held the batting together by carrying his bat throughout thecompleted innings.The day’s play began in sunshine, with Matabeleland having a59-run advantage on first innings which looked likely to provedecisive unless they made a major hash of their second innings.Charles Coventry and Sibiza gave their team no immediate causefor alarm with the first double-figure opening stand of thematch.Gary Brent, though, struck back for Manicaland with three wicketsin the morning session. Although still bowling the occasionalloose ball, he found much more control, holding the ball down theseam for most of the time, and found good movement and occasionallift. Coventry (24), the more enterprising of the two batsmen,gradually found his confidence and was feeling quite comfortable,by his own admission, when he fended off a lifter from Brent tobe caught by Steve Lawson in the slips with the total on 34.Captain Mark Vermeulen came in but had only two to his name whenhe played forward to Brent and was adjudged lbw, possibly outsidethe line of off stump. Dion Ebrahim quickly received a flierfrom Brent and gave a low chance in the gully that was put down.Almost immediately a light shower of rain drove the players fromthe field.Ebrahim was not to last long, though, turning a ball from Brentfirmly but straight to short leg Stuart Matsikenyeri, out for 3with the score on 46 for three. Neil van Rensburg came in butthen came more rain; a total of 35 minutes was lost before lunch.Play resumed with 14 minutes before lunch, and van Rensburg wasdropped at the wicket slashing outside off stump at Patrick Gada.At the interval the score was 50 for three (Sibiza 16, vanRensburg 2), and the light rain started again almost immediately.Only a few minutes were lost before play started againafterwards. Van Rensburg played a handsome cover drive but then,on 10, padded up to a ball from Soma that came back in and wasgiven out lbw. Brent was more erratic after lunch, but took afourth wicket with a bad ball, a short one down the leg side atwhich the new batsman Warren Gilmour (0) swung and walked for atickle to the keeper. At 63 for five, Matabeleland were indanger of throwing it away.Sibiza was still there, driving and missing occasionally butkeeping his head down the rest of the time and batting soundly.He had sound support for a while from Shaun Commerford (14) andIan Engelbrecht (13), both out to Mark Burmester, to take thescore to 110 for seven. Then Matthew Townshend, son of formernational player and current Matabeleland manager Derrick, decidedto take the long handle and hit out powerfully, strikingBurmester for 4, 6 and 6 off successive balls, the sixestravelling over midwicket and long-on. He was given out for 22,caught at slip by Dion Yatras off off-spinner Steve Lawson,although it appeared the ball came off his pad, and there was ageneral feeling that the umpires were rather too trigger-happy,as there were several dubious decisions in the innings.At tea the score was 148 for eight (Siziba 38, Brown 10), thelatter having scooped Lawson for two successive fours over mid-onjust before tea. The innings was to fold meekly soon afterwardsfor just two more runs, though, both to Lawson, Brown beingsmartly stumped by Neil Ferreira and Hitz, doubtless hindered bynerves, driving loosely and lobbing a catch to Brent at coverwithout scoring. Sibiza carried his bat through the innings fora determined, if somewhat fortunate at times, 40. Brent, despitehis post-lunch wildness, finished with the commendable ifslightly flattering figures of 16-5-16-4.Manicaland were left to score 210 to win, the highest total ofthe match – which seemed unlikely in the context of this matchbut they had scored 357 against Midlands the previous weekend.They made a positive start, with Ferreira and the promoted Brentmoving the score along with some enterprising strokes. Bothsides appeared more fired up than at any stage in the match,especially when the score reached the thirties and it was clearthat Manicaland were not going to roll over.Matters changed immediately the spinners were brought on. In hisfirst over Engelbrecht yorked Ferreira (16), beating him inflight, and the wicket-keeper left the field during play for thefirst time in the match. Then in the next over Brown had Brentcaught by van Rensburg at slip, both wickets falling at 50.Burmester’s policy seemed to be to wait for the wide ball andhammer it for four, and for a long time it worked. His firstfive scoring shots were all boundaries, although one was a thininside edge that just missed the stumps. He had a couple ofother narrow escapes, but fortune favoured the brave for quite awhile. At the other end Gada played a valuable supporting role,playing the occasional good attacking stroke but generallyfinding the fielder.Burmester was just past fifty when an attempted pull lobbed theball just over slip, but he did not enjoy his escape for long.Moving down the pitch to Engelbrecht, he played over a ball to bebowled. His 53 came off 69 balls and included 8 fours; it wasscored out of a stand of 59 with Gada. With the lightdeteriorating rapidly, the umpires refused to come off until tenminutes to six, and Gada (12) and night-watchman Terry Denyer (0)fought successfully for survival and will carry on the fight inthe morning. Manicaland’s last seven batsmen need another 93runs to win, and with their best men gone they will have to dowell to get them.