Tygerberg's inclusion of their professional Vernon Philander for the second day's play gave Cape Town a far harder battle than they had experienced on day one, but they nevertheless ultimately overcame it to record their fifth Two-Day victory of the season. Doing all that was humanly possible to stave off defeat, Philander's heroic but solo resistance stood out like a beacon - illuminating its own futility at the same time as highlighting the inadequacy of his teammates' support.
Brindley Gilbert had, as always, provided the initial obstacle to Cape Town's ambitions when play resumed on day two, dominating a 54-run fourth wicket partnership with his brother that held the visitors at bay for the first hour. However, Matthew Olsen got the breakthrough by dismissing them both within 17 balls, Gilbert's dismissal being especially disappointing to the home side when he carelessly swept a full toss straight to the man positioned at deep square leg. That opened the way for Donovan Holman to exert unrelenting pressure on the lower half of the batting order, and the combination of a lack of commitment coupled with bad judgement from the remaining batting consequently saw Tygerberg tumble from 69 for three to 137 for nine within 80 minutes - an overall lead of just 78. Dropped on 7* though, Philander still remained - although with only the number eleven left for company he was forced to farm the strike. Consistently hitting the ball to fielders on the boundary, he spurned blatant runs - content with a single off the last ball of every over. His ability to do this was phenomenal though - his partner faced but three deliveries in their first ten overs together. As a result, with Cape Town seemingly quite incapable of preventing that single, despite the field being dutifully brought in at the end of every over, the post-lunch session rapidly became a nightmare of pure frustration for them - especially once Philander also began adding a few lusty hits during the course of the over. Consequently, as each fruitless over ticked by, the visitors increasingly looked and fielded flatter than week-old roadkill.
Realistically though, it was almost impossible to believe that Tygerberg could pull off an escape act of that magnitude - not with only one man contributing to the scoreboard and a full 75 overs still left in the day when the last pair came together. Sure enough then, after more than an hour of this torture, during which Philander contributed 45 of the 49-run tenth wicket stand, Cape Town wrapped up the innings when Philander finally made a mistake, mishitting a pull to deep mid wicket.
Left to score just 128 to win off a full 55 overs, Cape Town then got themselves into some trouble when Denver Carolus's legbreaks took two wickets in five balls, tumbling their somewhat reshuffled batting line-up to 47 for three. Mark Ritchie stood firm at the other end though, and once joined by Chris Vadas the pair at an ever-increasing tempo took Cape Town to victory without further mishap. Reaching their half-centuries in successive overs, Ritchie played the perfect foil, content to pick up the ones and twos, while Vadas defied the unbelievably slow outfield to still blaze nine fours - chiefly through his trademark pull and lofted sweep shots. With an increasingly resigned home team attack having nothing to offer, the visitors consequently stormed to victory with almost 20 overs to spare, a result that has all but guaranteed Tygerberg relegation to the 1B division next season.
On the first day, Cape Town didn’t hesitate to insert their hosts upon winning the toss, and took the first wicket as early as the second over. That might quickly have been seven for three when both Alistair Simpson and Brindley Gilbert offered chances in successive overs, but with the visitors spilling both opportunities the pair set about repairing the damage somewhat over the next hour - until Olsen broke through almost immediately after drinks. It was the beginning of the spin dominance, Olsen and Holman settling in to bowl the last 29 overs of the innings in tandem. That was all they needed to knock over the rest of Tygerberg’s batting line-up, sharing the last nine wickets between them to rout the home side just after lunch. Olsen went on the claim a maiden First XI five-for, and while Tygerberg captain Siyabulela Nelani hit out when he did have the strike, he was left stranded on 29 not out as Holman wrapped up the tail at the other end – the last six wickets tumbling inside 20 overs as the hosts slumped to 111 all out.
Cape Town made a better start to their innings – assisted by a shower of no-balls and a large slice of luck. Both Ritchie and debutant Craig Shepherd were "dismissed" by no-balls before they had scored, continuing to piece together a crucial 50 partnership that put Cape Town on top. Struggling initially, Shepherd took 22 balls to get off the mark, but then blossomed through the lofted straight drive as Carolus fed him a barrage of consistently over-pitched deliveries. Although Carolus eventually claimed Shepherd’s wicket, the 69 runs he conceded off just 14 overs was a major difference between the teams in a low-scoring match, and Cape Town consequently went to tea at a comfortable 82 for two.
By then the home side’s Luwaaz September had switched to off spin after bowling medium-pacers in his first spell, and this brought quick dividends. Having already dismissed Ritchie in this fashion just prior to tea, his off breaks then single-handedly cleaned up Cape Town’s middle order with three more wickets in 16 balls, tumbling the visitors to 120 for six and throwing the game wide open again. However, the lower middle order rallied matters somewhat, Olsen leading the way with a quick-fire 22 to see the visitors to three batting points and, given the conditions, a potentially crucial 59-run first innings lead. Two quick wickets from Selwyn Januarie forced the declaration though, leaving Tygerberg 15 overs to negotiate before the close.
Hoping to ram home their advantage with a few quick wickets, Richard Lotter did just that for Cape Town. Striking in his first and third overs, he left the home side reeling at 15 for three. Though they held out for the final eight overs of the day without further loss, thanks to another dropped catch, the task that they faced to turn their fortunes around going into day two was large - as it almost predictably turned out, too large.
Match photo's