Strikers in dramatic collapse but Griquas fare little better

There was no shortage of incident on the first day of this match, although nothing could match the drama of the downward spiral that marked the end of the Highveld Strikers' first innings.

In a minor and somewhat meaningless competition for those teams which didn't reach the Super Eight phase of the Supersport Series, in which all three matches thus far have been drawn, a result seems inevitable after 17 wickets fell on day one, unless the weather gods intervene.

The home side, put in by Griquas captain Wendell Bossenger, had progressed relatively uneventfully to 170 for four when the carnage started, with off spinner Martyn Gidley getting a touch as Marthinus Otto drove one straight down the pitch and running out Geoffrey Toyana, who was backing up, for 10.

Two runs and a handful of overs later, the Strikers were back in the hut and Griquas' paceman Zahir Abrahim had a devastating spell of five for two in five overs under his belt, including the scalps of Brendan Horan, Neil Fusedale and Johnson Mafa, all bowled for ducks in the space of five balls, to end the innings.

As undignified as that collapse was, though, Griquas didn't fare much better, with opener Gidley holding his end up while wickets tumbled around him as the visitors were reduced to 93 for seven. Mafa took four for 22 in a hostile nine-over spell after tea from the Golf Course End, the same end from which Abrahim had earlier sown destruction.

Abrahim continued his major contribution, however, helping Gidley arrest the slump as he hit Mafa out of the attack and at the close, he had 28 out of an unbroken stand of 33 with Gidley, who was on 56, leaving Griquas on 126 for seven, 46 behind.