Chasing a meagre 108 for victory less than two hours into the Second Day's play, Cape Town on paper should have strolled to a comprehensive win. However, they instead seemed intent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, as some loose strokeplay upfront exposed the middle order to difficult conditions that they struggled to extricate themselves from. Indeed, it raised the spectre of the last time that they played Montrose at this venue, when the visitors were routed for 91 back in 2005/06 despite needing just 111 for victory. In all honesty it probably should have happened once more on this occasion too, but this time around the home side let themselves down with a dismal catching display that saw no fewer than seven chances spilled.

Cape Town had adopted the same approach for their run chase that had worked for them in their earlier triumphs over Victoria and Pinelands, namely to grab the initiative from the outset by playing shots from virtually ball one. On this occasion the bowler-friendly conditions presented a different set of variables to contend with though, especially when the home side opened the bowling with left-arm spinner Faghmie Jardine - a long-time thorn in Cape Town's flesh since his Primrose days. As a result, within the first five overs Cape Town's top three were all back in the hut with just nine runs on the board, having all holed out attempting some ambitious early strokes.

At this point a rethink in batting strategy might well have been advisable, but any such approach ran against Tom Main's grain. Characteristically persisting in taking the fight to the bowlers, he proceeded to play a breezy knock that ultimately determined the match's destiny. Unconcerned about being personally dropped three times, he cracked three sixes and three fours off Jardine alone to race to a 35-ball fifty, the second-fastest by a Cape Town batsman in the past 13 seasons. In the process he contributed 50 of the 65 runs added for the fourth wicket in just nine overs with Lloyd Moore, before chancing his arm once too often to be finally caught from his fourth chance offered. His fearless flamboyance had nevertheless provided the visitors with invaluable runs that might otherwise not have accrued, although his departure initiated another slump as Juan Grobbelaar and former Protea Robin Peterson (in for the second day's play) each picked up two scalps to tumble Cape Town back to 85 for seven. Fortunately for the visitors they still had a cool head remaining in captain Jonathan Holgate though, and with unexpectedly disciplined support from Matthew Olsen the pair carefully picked off the remaining 23 runs needed to secure their first win over Montrose in ten Two-Day matches.

The day's drama had begun well before then though, when the home side had resumed their second innings reasonably well-placed with an overall lead of 51 and eight second-innings wickets still in hand. Those first two wickets had fallen to Andre Olwagen in the last half-hour of the first day's play, and he wasted little time in running through the rest of the batting upon the resumption of play. A sharp low catch in the gulley and a silly run out dispatched the two overnight batsmen within the first 25 minutes, whereupon some full swinging deliveries from Olwagen castled three further batsmen in quick succession as Montrose collapsed in a heap to 46 for eight. Tail-ender Lucien Simpson launched a late counterattack, cracking three successive fours off Olwagen to spoil his still impressive figures of six for 43 somewhat. Simpson's undefeated 24 from 14 balls thus stretched the visitors' target to three figures, but he could not prevent Olsen from cleaning up the last two wickets in successive balls as the home side was bundled out for their lowest total against Cape Town in 13 seasons.

On the first day Cape Town had won a useful toss first up to insert their hosts on a greenish pitch that would subsequently favour the bowlers throughout - once play began after a touching moment in which both teams formed a Guard of Honour for Damian Thornton as he stepped onto the field for the 100th time in Cape Town First XI colours. His team's bowlers were slow to make full use of their advantage though, generally bowling too wide a line outside off stump. Consequently, after dropping home team skipper Shaun Gomes before he had scored, it took almost an hour before Darren Rolfe eventually induced an edge to slip to bring the first wicket. By then Gomes was into his stride, and once joined by Nadier Samaai he had the perfect foil for allowing him to take the fight to the bowlers. His sixth four (to go with an early six) thus took Gomes to an 83-ball fifty, shortly before the pair registered their fifty partnership - although Samaai was nowhere near as fluent, being beaten outside the off stump with a fair degree of regularity, he nevertheless held up his end while producing the odd scoring stroke of his own.

With the scoreboard reading 100 for one some 30 minutes prior to Lunch, things were definitely not going according to the visitors' script. However, Olwagen then finally got the breakthrough, becoming the fastest Cape Town First XI bowler in the past 13 seasons to 50 scalps when Gomes missed a swing across the line. Brindley Gilbert continued to advance Montrose's cause though, before offering the first of two edges behind induced by Rolfe in the space of three overs. Samaai fell soon thereafter too, compliments of a fine running catch by Wayne Hendricks off a skied drive, as the home side began stepping up the pace in the last few overs before the compulsory declaration. Main took full advantage of their aggressive intent, needing just three overs to claim the last four wickets of the innings with his left-arm spin, but not before Montrose had still posted a useful score.

Nevertheless, Cape Town's last three wins had all come despite solid first-innings totals from their opponents, using powerhouse batting to post scores of 263, 293 and 270 of their own. Certainly the visitors' opening batsmen seemed to indicate that the same winning recipe was still in effect, as they took on the Montrose new-ball bowlers to blaze 28 from the first six overs. The bowler-friendly conditions made it hard to sustain though, and wickets fell with regularity thereafter to a combination of loose strokeplay, bad shot selection and some good catching. With Jardine and seamers Waleed Samsodien and Chad Fortune all chipping in, Cape Town consequently found themselves seven down within 35 overs. Francois Vermaak still stood firm at the top of the order though, albeit that a more watchful approach was now required of him in the face of a looming first-innings deficit. By then he had already gone to his second fifty in successive innings, but the lack of support at the other end still meant that once he finally gave Gilbert his third slip catch to be eighth man out, his tally of 62 represented fully half of Cape Town's total.

When Cape Town's last two batsmen thus came together, the visitors were still a daunting 53 runs behind the home side's total, and in a fair amount of trouble. However, showing their more senior colleagues the value of application, for the next 45 minutes they defied anything that Montrose could throw at them, while Geoff Dods assumed the chief run-scoring responsibilities. Cape Town consequently inched closer and closer to the home side's total, doubtlessly frustrating them immensely, with Dods going to his highest score for the First XI and pegging the first-innings deficit at a manageable 30 runs before Fortune finally wrapped up the innings with his fourth scalp. 

Match photo's