First-class season starts with strange day indeed

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

A strange day indeed heralded the start of the first-class cricket season on Thursday, what with 19 wickets falling on Bloemfontein's normally docile pitch and just five at the allegedly lusty, lively Wanderers.

The Warriors dismissed the Knights for 140 inside two sessions in Bloem. But, by stumps, the visitors had dwindled to 136/9 in reply.

There was no such rude awakening in Johannesburg, where the Lions reached 271/5 against the Titans.

As bad as things were for the Knights, they could have been worse - the home side crashed to 32/8 with Andrew Birch, Wayne Parnell and Basheeru-Deen Walters taking seven of those scalps between them before Corne Dry and Quinton Friend came up with a stand of 98.

Dry and Friend each scored 51 before they were removed by Simon Harmer, who took 2/8 in 20 balls.

Then Dry got back to his real job as a fast bowler and claimed 5/43 in the Eastern Capers' lurching reply.

Like their Knights counterparts, the Warriors' bowlers also found themselves having to do more than their fair share of the batting. Birch and Walters were two of their three visitors to pass 20 runs. The other was Colin Ingram.

Eight of the men dismissed in Bloemfontein yesterday were caught behind - an indication of the movement in the pitch.

By contrast, it took the Titans more than 21 overs to separate Lions openers Stephen Cook and Rassie van der Dussen. Only for Cook and Temba Bavuma to add 116 for the second wicket.

Shaun von Berg had a cutting Cook trapped in front for 56 and he bowled Bavuma for 84 when he played back and down the wrong line.

Quinton de Kock scored a bright 51 off 61 balls with nine fours before he was bowled by Marchant de Lange.