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Pietermaritzburg - The Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras ended another truncated day on 66 without loss, trailing the Sunfoil Dolphins by 244 after two days of the Sunfoil Series match.
The Dolphins resumed on 179 for five, with the second new ball just eleven overs away. This proved to be a key factor as Cobras captain Justin Ontong took it as soon as it became available and Vernon Philander bowled Divan van Wyk with the third delivery. Van Wyk contributed a solid 95 (210 balls, 14 fours) and was involved in a partnership of 83 with Daryn Smit after the Cobras new ball bowlers had swept away the top order.
Smit had been in a stonewalling frame of mind on the first evening, but came out of his shell to play some delightful shots as the morning progressed. He was to score 73 off 107 balls on the day before being stumped shortly after lunch. He too failed to reach the century mark, finishing on 94 in just under five hours at the crease (199 balls, 16 fours 1 six).
Rory Kleinveldt ended the innings with five for 54, dismissing Mthokozisi Shezi for a stubborn fourteen runs, but the Dolphins would have been happy with this total after having being 25 for four in the eleventh over; and even succeeded in denying the Cobras their full quota of bowling bonus points.
The Cobras openers, with Alistair Gray leading the way, made a bright start in their reply. Gray had reached 40 (64 balls, 9 fours) and Andrew Puttick a more subdued eighteen before umpires Karl Hurter and Brad White ushered the players off the field due to bad light shortly before the scheduled tea break.
There was no improvement and, with even heavier cloud cover giving way to a light drizzle, play was abandoned for the day well short of the scheduled time for stumps.
More rain is predicted for tomorrow and, unless there are some interesting declarations, the match might fizzle out into a bonus point chase. On that theme, the Dolphins earned 3.42 for batting and the Cobras 3 for bowling.
The Dolphins resumed on 179 for five, with the second new ball just eleven overs away. This proved to be a key factor as Cobras captain Justin Ontong took it as soon as it became available and Vernon Philander bowled Divan van Wyk with the third delivery. Van Wyk contributed a solid 95 (210 balls, 14 fours) and was involved in a partnership of 83 with Daryn Smit after the Cobras new ball bowlers had swept away the top order.
Smit had been in a stonewalling frame of mind on the first evening, but came out of his shell to play some delightful shots as the morning progressed. He was to score 73 off 107 balls on the day before being stumped shortly after lunch. He too failed to reach the century mark, finishing on 94 in just under five hours at the crease (199 balls, 16 fours 1 six).
Rory Kleinveldt ended the innings with five for 54, dismissing Mthokozisi Shezi for a stubborn fourteen runs, but the Dolphins would have been happy with this total after having being 25 for four in the eleventh over; and even succeeded in denying the Cobras their full quota of bowling bonus points.
The Cobras openers, with Alistair Gray leading the way, made a bright start in their reply. Gray had reached 40 (64 balls, 9 fours) and Andrew Puttick a more subdued eighteen before umpires Karl Hurter and Brad White ushered the players off the field due to bad light shortly before the scheduled tea break.
There was no improvement and, with even heavier cloud cover giving way to a light drizzle, play was abandoned for the day well short of the scheduled time for stumps.
More rain is predicted for tomorrow and, unless there are some interesting declarations, the match might fizzle out into a bonus point chase. On that theme, the Dolphins earned 3.42 for batting and the Cobras 3 for bowling.
