With their hosts customarily losing the toss, Rygersdal took first use of a decent batting surface - and the loss of an early wicket notwithstanding put it to full use. Ryan Maron was in irresistable form from the word go, middling everything with rare timing and power, and thus formed the fulcrum around which the visitors' subsequent mighty batting effort revolved. First adding 65 for the second wicket at three to the over with Matthew Snyman to set things up nicely, he swept passed a fifty containing 40 runs in boundaries in the process of scoring 44 of the 62 runs added for the third wicket as well.

At 143 for three the table had thus been set for Rygersdal to help themselves to a sumptious run-scoring banquet, and the misstumping of Kenny Jackson before he had scored was a gratuitous invitation to do exactly that. He subsequently stormed away to reach a 46-ball fifty with his second six - to go with five fours - by which stage Maron had long since charged to the fifth century conceded by the long-suffering Cape Town attack in their last six matches. Their hundred partnership needed just 89 balls to complete, and only a short run denied them a 150-run stand when, after exactly 21 overs of pure carnage, Maron eventually clipped the perservering Donovan Holman to mid wicket to finish on 136 off just 175 balls - including no fewer than six sixes along with his 14 fours.

Jackson narrowly missed out on his own century by following him soon thereafter, but the momentum continued unabated until the compulsory 70-over declaration finally called a halt to the drubbing. Thus, far from skittling its opponents in order to keep its slim survival hopes alive, with the worst possible timing Cape Town instead ended up conceding its largest total in the 117 Two-Day matches that it has contested over the past eleven season in the 1A - Holman also conceding a century from his bowling for the first time in his 139-match Cape Town First XI career.

Rygersdal thus increased its overall points lead over Cape Town to an unassailable 20.1 points before the latter had even batted, leaving its hosts with nothing but pride left to play for. Unfortunately there was not a lot of that on evidence either, although when Mark Ritchie and Dominic Telo were adding 65 together in 14 overs for the third wicket Cape Town was still looking useful at 112 for two. However, they both fell within an over of each other, and thereafter Alistair Gray's legspin and Lourens de Jager's left-arm chinamen combined to knock over the last five wickets for just 50 runs.

Trailing by 146 runs on the first innings, all Cape Town's tricky calculations and permutations of possible theoretical scenarios were out the window, and it certainly was now abundently clear to everyone to whom it may not have been before that they would be playing 1B cricket next season. With some concerns about how the pitch would hold up, Rygersdal waived its right to enforce the follow-on and instead elected for another quick bashing of the home side's jaded attack. They thus posted a fifty-run opening stand in six overs, en route to crashing 83 more runs from the eleven overs remaining before lunch on Day Two.

Knowing that an outright victory would make absolutely certain of their remaining in the 1A next season regardless of what the other teams around them did, the visitors then declared during the interval to set their hosts a not unreasonable 230 to win from the 71 overs remaining. Holman had at least benefited from their quick second-innings whack to pick up three cheap wickets, although the declaration left him one wicket short of reaching 50 for the season.

With the asking rate of barely three to the over within comfortable reach, Cape Town's target thus afforded it the opportunity of at least leaving the 1A with a last consolation win - provided that they could bat out 71 overs. For the first 100 minutes or so they were even nicely on track, Dylan de Beer surviving an early life to lead the way as Cape Town once again made a decent start at 82 for one in the 29th over. De Beer had taken advantage of some loose deliveries from Gray to reach his second fifty from the weekend's three innings, but once he holed out to the deep mid wicket boundary off Gray the remaining batting crumbled like shortcake. Bowling all but the first five overs from the Bowling Club end, Gray's seven for 60 was chiefly responsible for toppling Cape Town's last eight wickets in 20 overs, bundling them out for a poor 147 to seal a comprehensive 82-run victory and giving the part-time legspinner eleven wickets in the match.

Thus a miserable season for the Cape Town Cricket Club First XI ended in entirely appropriate fashion, completing the implosion of their Two-Day season with four defeats from their last four games. Considering that a little better play at crucial moments here and there during the season might well have created an entirely different look to its eventual outcome, Cape Town nevertheless has the players to do justice to themselves. It remains to be seen whether this player base will be retained for the 1B next season - if it is, then Cape Town's chances of winning the 1B in 2008/09 and immediately returning to the 1A cannot be said to be completely within the realms of fantasy. Time will tell - watch this space for details!!

Match photos