Victoria was always facing a mountainous uphill struggle going into the Second Day, with a massive 111-run first innings deficit to knock off before they could even begin contemplating setting their hosts a defendable target. As on the first morning though, the brittleness of their top order batting was once again quickly exposed, and losing four wickets within the first half-hour of the second morning effectively destroyed any faint hope of being able to save the match. This time it was Darren Rolfe who wreaked the early damage, grabbing three wickets in six deliveries to destroy the visitors' entire top order.
From there a home team victory was only really a matter of time, although Rowan Jacobs again played a lone hand amongst the top six in resisting strongly. Rolfe castled him just shy of the mid-session drinks break though, and with the spinners also getting in on the act the Victoria ship was foundering badly at 72 for seven some 30 minutes prior to Lunch. As had happened on the First Day though, the lower middle order proved to be a significantly tougher nut for the home side's bowlers to crack than had the specialist batsmen. Captain Warren Wyngaard thus combined with Mondli Mahlombe - who achieved both the top-score and the best bowling figures for his team in both innings - to add 52 for the eighth wicket after the break. Mahlombe in particular enjoyed himself in a losing cause, some clean strokeplay bringing him three sixes and three fours, but with Wayne Hendricks wrapping up the last three wickets within 20 balls with his left-arm spin, it was all too brief for Victoria.
At least they had achieved the small consolation of avoiding an innings defeat though, setting Cape Town a nominal 38 to win. However, opening bat Francois Vermaak continued where he had left off in the first innings, attacking the bowlers with relish to crack a six and four fours in racing to an undefeated 29 from just 28 balls. The home side thus barely noticed the loss of two cheap wickets along the way, overhauling their token target in less than half an hour to bag a very healthy 25-point reward for their comprehensively dominant display.
On the First Day Cape Town had for once lost the toss, and had doubtlessly commenced their first innings a little over an hour after Lunch in a somewhat disappointed frame of mind - the visitors having broken free from their firm grip to post a solid total. To their full credit though, the home side merely compensated by adjusting their sights upwards - pursuing the maximum possible batting bonus points - and with it a total that would still secure an impregnable first-innings lead. It was wildly ambitious stuff, but against a Victoria seam attack that no longer holds the terrors that they have historically inflicted on Cape Town's batsmen over the past dozen seasons or so (in their first four away matches against them since 1997/98, Cape Town lost 77 wickets at an average of under twelve runs apiece), they not only achieved it but also did so with an over to spare.
The home side's assault was sustained virtually from ball one, with Vermaak pulling lustily to hit six fours in his 25 runs. Damian Thornton hit three boundaries of his own in his first eight balls faced, he and an even more fluent Dominic Telo thereafter adding 98 for the second wicket in 25 overs. In the process both went to their fifties, Thornton's coming off 82 balls with no fewer than ten fours, while Telo went to his own off 68 balls with a thumping six over extra cover to go with seven previous fours.
Mixed inbetween the flow of boundaries though, the visitors' bowlers did manage to keep the other members of the home side's middle order in check. Ian Wessels claimed a wicket in each of two successive overs, Jacobs also struck twice within four overs, and Mahlombe picked up an important second scalp by castling Telo with the first ball after the evening drinks break. Nevertheless, with 170 already on the board in just the 43rd over, the stage had still been perfectly set for Tom Main's arrival at the crease. After a sedate start that brought just two singles from his first twelve balls faced, he then signalled the start of his charge by sweeping his next ball for four. Thirty-six balls later he holed out on the deep mid wicket rope, but not before five sixes and five further fours had flowed from his bat. In the process he flashed passed his maiden half-century for Cape Town, achieved from just 43 balls. By then the home side had long since taken a first innings lead (achieved with 13½ overs still in hand), Matthew Olsen contributing to the carnage by adding 52 with him in under five overs. Robbie Hendricks bowled tightly in his second spell to pick up two scalps with his leg breaks and at least prevent Cape Town from posting a total in excess of 300, but the overall lead of 111 that had still been achieved when the compulsory declaration arrived had nevertheless realistically condemned Victoria to defeat before the Second Day had even started.
Earlier Cape Town had wasted little time in grabbing the initiative when the visitors had opted to take first use of a placid pitch. In a dramatic breakthrough that tumbled them to one for three, Victoria lost their first three batsmen for nought, all in the third over, as Geoff Dods claimed two in successive balls and a run out followed two balls later. Main then helped keep the middle order in check too, leaving Jacobs as the sole remaining island of resistance. When he edged to slip half an hour before Lunch though, the visitors had slumped to 83 for seven, and it seemed that Cape Town had overcome the last hurdle to bundling Victoria out for a substandard total.
Mahlombe and Zarrin Meyer had other ideas though, seeing their team safely through to the interval before launching a recovery after the break. Hitting a boundary in most overs thereafter, the pair added 52 for the eighth wicket to stabilise matters, after which Hendricks joined in to add a further unbeaten 47 in nine overs with Mahlombe - finishing with a flourish as they clubbed 25 off the last three overs. Thus, notwithstanding their early dramas, Victoria not only escaped being bowled out, but also still posted a decent total. By the close of play however, those same tail-end bowlers that had been responsible for the rescue act were unable to prevent Cape Town's juggernaut batting onslaught from reducing that total to almost insignificance by comparison, and dooming the newly-demoted one-time 1A champions to their third defeat from their first four Two-Day games in the 1B.
Match photo's