South Africa: Lively start to Standard Bank season (4 October 1998)

4 October 1998

South Africa: Lively start to Standard Bank season

Trevor Chesterfield in Centurion

It wasn't quite the start to their campaign for which Western Province had hoped. After all, running into a battering ram on a small field at Fochville was not what they had expected, nor was it going to help their cause, especially after losing the toss.

Only Morne Strydom, an Eastern Province reject who spent what was a waste of a season with Griqualand West last summer, traded, as did Mike Rindel and Roy Pienaar, on an ability and good fortune to take the fight to the opposition on the official opening day of the South African season.

Or, as one tabloid style headline put it: Day/night series opens with a Bang. Little mention was made of Gary Kirsten being unable to bat, a factor which disrupted Province's carefully-laid plans.

The result was an upset win for North West over Standard Bank League champions Province in an out of the way mining town amid the maize (corn to non-South Africans) belt.

About a three-hour run down the road in Bloemfontein the legendary batting pairing of Mike Rindel and Roy Pienaar were dishing it out to Free State which included Allan Donald, Hansie Cronje and Nicky Boje

Either way not at all a bad night's entertainment for the crowds who flock to the domestic day/night series run under the banner of Standard Bank.

And minnows North West's win over a tired looking Province will certainly liven up expectations of teams such as Easterns and Border who start their programme this week. On Wednesday Easterns tackle Natal at Willowmoore Park in Benoni while Border are away on Friday to Eastern Province in Port Elizabeth.

Northerns have a home game against Province, most likely minus Gary Kirsten, and Gauteng (at home) and Griqualand West, now under the leadership of Kepler Wessels, are at home to Natal.

At Fochville Strydom, who 12 months ago went off to Griquas to seek fame and guidance from their coach, Eddie Barlow, returned to a far happier hunting ground. At first, however, he must have wondered whether the decision by his skipper, opening bowler David Pryke, to bat first had been a wise one.

At 13 for two with Neil Rossouw and Hendrik de Vos mulling over their misfortune of barely contributing to the eventual total of 273 for six, Strydom was in need of some support. After all, North West had not done too well in their pre-season build up. They were drilled by Free State in two days in a game meant to last three, and wiped out in a limited-overs match - failing to reach 150 when chasing 230.

There had also been a distinct lack of success in games against Easterns and Griquas, so why shouldn't Province, the opposition looking decidedly wobbly at 13 for two, feel confident of quickly rolling the country cousins and collect two easy points as well? For the 24-year-old Strydom the support came from Louis Vorster and Bajan all-rounder Mark Lavine, a big striker of the ball who made left-arm spinner Claude Henderson on the night wish he had become a batsman instead of a bowler. But Fochville's Gert van Rensburg Stadium's boundaries are shorter than most. And if you are prepared to bat sensibly runs will come. Strydom's innings of 93 off 112 balls included only 40 in boundaries; which shows that he was prepared to do a bit of leg work as well - and against a bowling attack heavily laden with limited-overs international experience. Although Craig Matthews and Eric Simons have been out of the LOI scene for several years the list of names in the bowling attack was highly impressive: Alan Dawson, Jacques Kallis and Brian McMillan. It should have been enough to awe most still trying to find their way in the game at this pressure-cooker style level.

Not to worry. Strydom, when asked by his skipper, provided the sort of all-round support with off-spinners which also worked out well - four for 16 in 4.5 overs is not a bad return as the Province batsmen went on the slog to no avail and conceded more than two runs an over in net run rate.

At Springbok Park, it needed batting legends Rindel and Pienaar to rewrite the limited-overs record books to enable Northerns to begin their day/night Standard Bank League campaign in impressive style..

In what was an incredible batting display both scored centuries as Northerns, set an improbable target of 256 at a fraction under six runs an over, won by eight wickets in dramatic fashion with one ball remaining.

It needed a six by Steve Elworthy off the bowling of Hansie Cronje to clinch what had become the sort of nail-biting victory the crowd may enjoy but could have been achieved with less fuss and bother by the batting legends.

Rindel and Pienaar, with skill and expertise, put together a first-wicket record partnership of 240, demolishing the 222 held by Neil Johnson and Doug Watson against Easterns at Willowmoore Park two seasons ago.

It was their ability to cleverly rotate the strike as well as take the fight to a feisty Free State bowling attack which enabled Rindel to score his eighth limited-overs century and end undefeated on 123 while Pienaar's three-figure score was a superb display of style and technique and his first major contribution in five seasons.

And if ever Cronje needed a reminder of a limited-overs batsman of class and quality, he was given a hands on display from Rindel on how to handle pressure conditions. Rindel went to three figures off only 95 balls with 14 fours while Pienaar's century included a six and nine fours. Mere statistics which show nothing of the total command both batsmen displayed last night.

Rindel also collected his 15th man of the match award after Northerns and earned an accolade along side that of Pienaar's.

Between them they carved up the Free State bowling with Allan Donald giving away 55 runs in his nine overs and new-comer Matthew Hoggard also being plastered around the field.

Both centuries overshadowed the undefeated 114 by Gerry Liebenberg, around which the Free State total of 255 for four was built.

Source :: Trevor Chesterfield, Pretoria News