da bet esporte： On the first day of the Logan Cup match between Manicaland andMatabeleland, the interest and excitement tended to outstrip thequality of the cricket
da leao： John Ward10-Mar-2000On the first day of the Logan Cup match between Manicaland andMatabeleland, the interest and excitement tended to outstrip thequality of the cricket. Two fine batting performances dominated,from the former Academy players Dion Ebrahim and Neil Ferreira.Otherwise the rest of the batting was pretty feeble, the bowlingwas sometimes good but basically erratic, the ground fieldingoften poor, but the catching frequently superb. Both teamscompleted an innings, with Matabeleland taking a lead of 59 runs.This match, by mutual agreement, was played at a neutral venue inHarare Sports Club due to the distance between the two centres,although Matabeleland probably had second thoughts after a longairport delay saw them arrive in Harare after 2am on the morningof the match. Their captain for the match was former Academyplayer and Under-19 captain Mark Vermeulen, with Mark Abramsunavailable for family reasons. Also missing were Ross Craig andJohn Rennie for business reasons, while Manicaland had the sametwelve as in their first match. The weather was hot andgenerally sunny, although there was some rain about. The pitchwas inevitably a little slow and giving some movement to seamers,and with a little uneven bounce the batsmen did not find it easyto play their strokes.Matabeleland decided to bat on winning the toss, and pace bowlerLeon Soma soon struck for Manicaland with two quick wickets for19 runs. Charles Coventry, now 17 but in the record books as thecountry’s youngest ever first-class player at 15, fell in thethird over without a run on the board. Perhaps with a touch ofdesperation at failing to get the board moving, he drove unwiselyand skyed a catch to extra cover. Vermeulen came in and playedsome effortless strokes, apparently back to his best form after alean period. The other opener, development player Wisdom Siziba,struggled for runs and eventually flashed at a ball outside offstump, and the resultant thick edge was well caught low down bykeeper Neil Ferreira for 3.Soma had opened the bowling with former national all-rounder MarkBurmester, who bowled well, moving the ball away from theright-hander. First-change Gary Brent had a terrible first twoovers, bowling several wides. The only way he could resolve thisinexplicable problem, he found, was to bowl with his fingersacross the seam. Vermeulen enjoyed an escape when a thick edgejust cleared gully, but then ran himself out unnecessarily. DionEbrahim off-drove a ball and called for a second, but Vermeulen(29) was unprepared and narrowly run out after quick fielding byTerry Denyer.Manicaland completed a good morning’s work with the wicket of theexperienced Neil van Rensburg (14) on the stroke of lunch, as hehelped a full toss from Denyer straight down the throat of longleg Soma. Matabeleland thus finished the morning on 93 for four,with the busy-looking Dion Ebrahim still there on 30.After lunch for a while there was the rare sight of two spinners,Lawson (off) and Denyer (leg) who both toss the ball up and relymuch on flight. They were not quite accurate enough to botherthe patient batsman, although Denyer picked up another scalp whenShaun Commerford (6) was well caught at first slip by DionYatras, the ball coming off the keeper’s gloves. Wicket-keeperWarren Gilmour (8) was bowled by a beauty from Brent that cameback enough to uproot the off stump as the batsman tried to padup, and Matabeleland were reduced to 120 for six.Ian Engelbrecht then gave Ebrahim sound support for a while in auseful partnership of 44 for the seventh wicket. Ebrahim oftenstruggled with his timing on this pitch but hung on and picked uphis runs mainly in ones and twos. He reached his fifty withoutit being recognised for several minutes due to the lack of anadequate scoreboard. He had reached 70 when Engelbrecht (19)finally steered a ball from Brent to Burmester in the gully, andthis was almost the end of the resistance. The last threebatsman never looked like staying long, and Matabeleland were allout eleven minutes short of the official tea-time for 175.Ebrahim, unable to push the score along with the tail, wasunbeaten with 76.Manicaland suffered the same sort of start to their innings asthey had inflicted on Matabeleland. Opener Patrick Gada wasbeaten and in all sorts of trouble several times before beingcaught by Vermeulen in the gully off Commerford without scoring.Mark Burmester (5) was then brilliantly caught at short leg byCoventry, diving full length at short leg to pull down a ballthat was going past him, off Matthew Townshend, and Manicalandwere 18 for two.But there was to be no real relief for Manicaland. For a shortwhile Steve Lawson stayed with Neil Ferreira, but after scoring 5he followed a ball from Hitz outside the off stump and was caughtat the wicket by Gilmour. Brent enjoyed a full toss from thesame bowler, which he hammered through midwicket for four; thenext ball was another full toss, but a well-disguised slower ballwhich beat the bat and bowled him, much to his embarrassment.The 16-year-old Stuart Matsikenyeri played soundly for 13 but,just when a recovery looked possible, he was brilliantly caughtat forward short leg by Mark Vermeulen off a firm hit. Yatrasand Denyer did not last long, and Manicaland were in real troubleat 77 for seven. Ferreira was still there, playing asheet-anchor role but unable to dominate. Soma decided the bestpolicy was to attack, and he played some fine strokes in hisbrisk 24, including a pull for six off Commerford. But then heswung at the off-breaks of Brown and dragged a ball on to his legstump, at 110 for eight.The last two Manicaland players are really only there to make upnumbers: Brian James, dismissed lbw to a ball pitching outsideleg stump, and Jason Sparrow looked quite out of their depth, andFerreira nobly sacrificed his opportunity to carry his batthrough the innings in the interests of the team. Hitting out,he was caught at mid-on by Siziba off Engelbrecht for 31, justfailing to match the effort of top-scorer Extras who made 33.The match may well be over in two days.
