Kirsten smiles as Northerns pick up five batting points

It always helps to win the toss and bat first in such conditions but the secret is, of course, to also put together a meaningful total and score as many bonus points as possible.

Which is what Martin van Jaarsveld and Rudolf Steyn did yesterday with big centuries for Northerns against Griqualand West at the Kimberley Country Club as they ended day one of this Pool A SuperSport Series game on 376 for three and five batting points in the bag.

This time last summer Northerns coach Peter Kirsten had been lamenting about how successive batting failures were putting pressure on the batsmen to produce competitive, if not match-winning A Section scores. Now he is looking for a total of 500 plus, a declaration and then bid to bowl out Griquas twice.

"It's not going to be easy on this pitch," he said after watching Van Jaarsveld end the day on 143 not out and Steyn scoring 145 in a partnership of 223 for the third wicket, 27 runs short of the record for the province.

"Yes, it was nice to see the way the two batted. It makes all the hours of throwdowns in the nets worthwhile," Kirsten added.

What has helped so far this summer is having Neil McKenzie at three and again on the receiving end as his innings started to blossom. Also Pat Symcox may have been a quality player Test and international limited-overs player, his captaincy, however, was well short of this standard.

And Kirsten was free to admit Northerns exploited the conditions after Griquas selectors shock axing of their opening batsman, the long-serving Mickey Arthur, for leg-spinner Craig Copeland who went for plenty. On loan from Western Province the blond leggie battled to maintain a line and suffered for his waywardness.

Symcox's reluctance to make more use of the quick bowlers also helped Northerns cause as they raced from 250 to 350 for bonus points three, four and five; Steyn's handwork always nice to watch as he drove sweetly through the line, although he went through an uncertain patch at one stage immediately after lunch.

Both batsmen complimented each other as they rotated the strike and kept their eye on the board and the chase for bonus points rather than bother about the third-wicket record held by Mike Haysman and Louis Vorster and scored in 1990/91 against Eastern Province at what was the Centurion Park.

If Steyn looked tidy and accomplished as he scored his first century in three seasons after injury waylaid his input last summer, Van Jaarsveld batted with the flair and fluency of which the national selectors will now, no doubt, take some interest. At least one of them, Kepler Wessels was on hand to shower the man known as Jarre with verbal applause.

Kirsten also had praise for the 25-year-old who needed a big ton to restore his own as well as the selectors' confidence in his ability. "I told to go out be relaxed and bat with flair and he showed that he can do it," said Kirsten as Van Jaarsveld, after facing 210 balls had hit 16 fours and is now five runs short of surpassing the 147 scored against England A for the SA President's XI at the end of last summer.

There were plenty of handsome strokes and the way he played the spinners was a plus for the Northerns batsman who felt he had to get runs on the board first before he could start thinking in realistic terms of playing for South Africa A this season.