October 3 First test against New Zealand
Hondo and Rainsford opened the bowling to Papps (142) and McCullum (44) and got delt to, particularly by the former and it wasn't long before I replaced Hondo with the spinner Price and in his first over McCullum glaced a ball to square leg and called for a run, the fielder exectued a quick return and Papps was on his way for 163. Price then had McCullum LBW for 86 off only 102 balls to bring us well into the tail. I brought Brent back and he bowled a surprisingly tidy spell and NZ were 442-7 at lunch.
Price got a wicket straight away, luring Gillespie down the pitch with the first ball after lunch and he was stumped for 15, bringing Tuffey to the crease. He then bowled Franklin with a good arm ball with the final ball of the same over for 22. He then bowled O'Brien in his next over to end the innings and NZ finnished on 447 all out, an addition of 5 for the last three wickets in the 11 minutes since lunch.
We had a mountain to climb and we started slowly with the openers obviously not wanting to give their wicket away cheaply and we had 20 runs after the first 10 overs. Wishart was soon run out for 11 and we were 31-1. Vermeulen then went for 21 with only 1 run added to the score. Marillier went for one and at 42-3 we were in exactly the same position as the kiwis just a day earlier. Strydom and Ebrahim both hit a few boundaries before tea and we ended the session 66-3.
Ebrahim tried to take charge after tea, hitting a couple of good boundaries before the was bowled by Tuffey and we were 82-4, still 165 runs short of the follow-on target. Strydom was then bowled for 30 and we looked dead at 90-5. We lost Carlisle for 15 an hour before the close but Ferreria and Brent showed great composure along with a great attacking streak and we finnished the day on 166-6, 81 runs short of the follow on.
October 4 First test against New Zealand
We lost Brent half an hour into the session for 30 and Price was caught next ball, Hondo survived the hat-tick ball and supported Ferreria to his 50 on debut off 110 deliveries.Hondo exited for 3 though and at 190-9 I took the top order batsmen aside and talked to them about how we were going to try and make sure we made NZ bat again at least but after a while I noticed that the crowd were cheering and the batsmen were still out in the middle, Ferreria and Rainsford had taken us to 226 and it looked as though we could get past the follow on target. The teams came in at lunch, the visitors looking dejected as Ferreria was cheered off the ground 89 not out after a great session where he battled against fearsome swing and won. 246-9.
Third ball after lunch Ferreria hit a four to pass the follow on target and raise our 250, a big cheer went up around the ground and the batsmen met in the middle to congrtulate each other. The ground exploded again as Ferreria brought up his ton on debut off 173 balls, his second 50 had come in only 63. Things just kept going our way as Rainsford attacked the bowlers and when the centurion was finaly dismissed for 106, the score was 281, 166 runs behind. The last two had put on 91, the highest partnership in the innings.
Papps edged Hondo to second slip early on and it was a releif to get him early, we couldn't afford anyone to make a score. But that was exactly what Fleming and McMillian proceeded to do and by the time Fleming was dropped off Brent the score was 65-1. By tea they had added 8 more and things weren't looking good.
Brent managed to bowl McMillian for 48 to make the score 101-2 almost half an hour into the final session and I wondered wether I should indicate to Carlisle to bring the opening bowlers back on but I persisted as the wind seemed to be taken out of the batsmens sails and eventually Brent was replaced so he could rest. Rainsford bowled the last half hour around the wicket to try and make one final breakthrough while Price tied up the other end and Fleming tried to break the shakles again by advancing down the wicket but all he succeded in doing was flat batting it right back at Price to be out for 80. A few overs later Oram also tried to get the scoring going but he hit it straight down the throat of long on for 26. The day ended with NZ 182-4 thanks to the tight bowling of Rainsford and Price but with a lead of 348 and two days to go, it looks like we may go down, but go down fighting.
October 5 First test against New Zealand.
Price and Rainsford continued on but after the seamer conceded a few runs in his opening overs I replaced him with Brent's medium pace and he got the breakthrough in his first over, Sinclair skying his fourth ball to mid off. It was a little while before anything else of concequence happened but when it did it was a good ball from Price deceiving McCullum who played all around it to leave NZ 257-6. Astle was then stumped off the same bowler for 65 and it looked like the tail would once again crumble. We took the new ball and at lunch they were 295-7.
Unfortunately they wagged and edges fell short, LBW appeals were turned down and balls flew past the bat and all the while they continued to score runs at an alarming pace. I was forced to bring Price back into the attack and he picked up Franklin LBW second ball but the real danger continued to be Gillespie who was charging towards his 50. Thankfully he threw everything at a beautiful inswinger from Brent which took out his off stump and he was on his way for 49. The Kiwis then declared on 357-9 and we were left with the impossible task of scoring 524 to win.
I told the lads to just go out and enjoy batting and we lost Wishart and Marillier before we got past 10. Vermeulen hit a good for before going for 10 and at tea we were 33-3.
We got to 75 only losing Ebrahim but with the score at that number we lost Carlisle after a good little captains cameo of 25 from 36. What was good to see was that Strydom was still there on 28, playing a good innings and he was now joined by his fellow debutant Neil Ferreira who opened his account with a huge six off Gillespie over long off. The two battled past the 100 mark and looked set to make to the end of the day until Strydom was bowled by Oram for 38. Brent came to the wicket and scored some quick runs before being bowled in the last over and the day ended with Zimbabwe 156-7.
October 6 First test against New Zealand
Price left early but Ferriera got to his 50 off 66 balls and has cemented his place for the next series at least. Hondo played the typical tailenders innings and swung at everything while Ferreria the strokemaker blazed away at the other end and with the pressure off seemed to be enjoying himself in the sunshine. When Hondo was out for 19 it looked as if Ferrira would be left stranded but Rainsford stuck around and the went in for lunch 252-9, with the man in question 8 runs short of two hundreds on debut.
Sadly in his quest for the runs he swung at a good ball from Tuffey and edged to the man at silly mid on, four runs short of the milestone.
I think the positives to take out of this game are the batting from Strydom and most certainly Ferreira, they both batted well on a difficult pitch against difficult bowling on debut and in both innings they both steadied the ship when it was well needed. The bowling of Rainsford on day one and Price right thorughout was fantastic. The negatives, we need to watch our RPO's when bowling, we conceded runs at quite a pace. Both the bowling and Batting of Brent needs to mature, he lost it at times with the ball and he was too aggressive with the bat, getting out to stupid shots after making some quick runs. Also the batting of our top order, sure they're not test class batsmen most of them but they should do better, especially against that bowling attack.
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