Ontong helps Boland take charge

Centurion: In a display of style and maturity Justin Ontong helped Boland to two easy batting points and himself to an impressive first-class half century as the visitors continued to dominate their Super Eights A Section match against Northerns yesterday.

A far more organised and professional looking-side since their last visit to SuperSport Park a year ago, Boland were seven-three ahead in the bonus points race on day two of the opening round of the series.

With day one all but washed out and the need to establish some sort of batting mastery, Ontong led from the front to score a career best 78 as the visitors reached 253 for seven when bad light forced an early closure.

With Steve Palframan his partner, Ontong held firm against some hostile bowling from Greg Smith, Steve Elworthy and David Townsend during an impressive batting performance which added 161 runs to help Boland out of trouble after being a beleaguered 79 for five.

Still only 19 Ontong was by far the senior partner during the sixth-wicket stand and in the process surpassed the 71 scored earlier this year against Scotland for the SA Academy. While Palframan was free-flowing and attacking Palframan often gave the impression of being an apprentice journeyman trying to impress his older peers and lucky to be there for his score of 76 at the close.

Ontong though batted with care and attention and mixed with sumptuous drives and audacious pull strokes, there is little doubt he could be already part of the national selectors thinking when the A Team is chosen for the West Indies tour next April/May.

Northerns bowling was steady and aggressive and when the three quicks kept the ball up to the batsmen it had them in trouble.

Hard as it is, however, to admire the batting efforts of Dug Gain whose innings of 13 lasted two and a half hours; strokeless and at times lacking in purpose, he did at least help blunt the Northerns bowlers who were looking for more success after a lamentable batting effort which drew unpleasant parallels with last season's shaky start.

Yet when Gerald Dros was brought into the Northerns attack and served up a mixture of military medium and regulation declaration style bowling, the lack a forth seamer or spinner who could be classed as a frontline specialist was all too obvious. It meant that Neil McKenzie was unable to continue with the pressure created when Ontong was joined by Palframan with the score at 79 for five in the 35th over of the innings.

When the 50 partnership between the two was posted Dros had given away 28 runs and what pressure there had been was gone.

Earlier Henry Williams collected five wickets for five runs as Northerns fell apart for a paltry first innings total of 98.Williams ended with six for 39 to take his haul to 3o this season and his third five wicket haul.