Day two of the series deciding third unofficial Test match between South Africa A and West Indies A saw eleven wickets fall before bad light brought proceedings to a halt about 90-minutes away from stumps, with the hosts in a commanding position having secured a 252 run lead with seven in hand heading into the moving day.

However, South Africa’s dominance on the match began on the first day where the Neil Brand (62 off 93, 4x4) led batting unit rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in in what are uncharacteristically difficult batting conditions at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein.

In normal circumstances, anything less than 300 runs in First-Class cricket can be considered a sub-par effort from a batting unit, and more so if the captain of the team won the toss and chose to bat first. However, this particular wicket does not resemble what we all have grown accustomed to when it comes to the Mangaung Oval.

There were no signs of a flat pitch, instead, there was a fair bit of grass coverage on the wicket, but with Shukri Conrad in charge, one can expect nothing less but to assume the bat first option in an attempt to challenge the batters to assert their dominance and win the series convincingly.

Brand’s half-century on Day one was followed up by a solid 70 off 114 from the experienced Khaya Zondo in the middle-order to take South Africa to 274 with less than an hour remaining on the day, enough time for Duane Olivier (1/28 in 10 overs) to remove opening batter Tagenarine Chanderpaul (3 off 20) before stumps were called on Tuesday.

On Day two, the hosts had an even better day with opening bowler Dane Paterson leading from the front with his best figures in the series when he claimed 4/34 in 13 overs, a spell that saw the right-arm seamer bowl three maiden overs on Wednesday.

Hardus Viljoen picked up 2/43 in his 11 overs before Mihlali Mpongwana (1/16 in 8 overs) and Ruan de Swardt (1/0 in 0.5 overs) cleaned up the West Indies A tail, securing a 148 run lead for the hosts with enough time to bat on Day two.

Batting for the second time in the match, with the dark clouds gathering above the Mangaung Oval, Brand (4 off 11), Raynard van Tonder (30 off 41, 3x4) and David Bedingham (6 off 7) fell victim to Shamar Joseph’s lethal inswingers to leave the hosts at 45/3.

Zubayr Hamza (33* off 49, 3x4, 1x6) and Zondo (29* off 55, 4x4, 1x6) ensured that the hosts did not lose any further wickets before the umpires called stumps due to bad light with a reassuring 252 runs lead comforting the hosts into Day three.

Weather allowing, Day three will commence today at 9.30 am.

Scorecard

South Africa: 274/10 (Zondo 70, Brand 62, Sinclair 5/44, Joseph 3/65)

West Indies: 126/9 (Sinclair 50, Johnson 33, Paterson 4/34, Viljoen 2/43)

South Africa: 104/3 (Hamza 33*, Van Tonder 30, Zondo 29*, Joseph 3/ 26)

South Africa lead by 252 runs

IOL Sport