Hayward pace blitz routs Sri Lanka A

Trevor Chesterfield

November 13, 1999

Centurion: Rushdie Majiet may be in Harare watching South Africa take control of the second Test against Zimbabwe but the convener of the national selectors has, no doubt, also heard the loud rapping on the door of opportunity yesterday by three fast bowlers from far off SuperSport Park.

Just how flimsy it is depends on whether the selectors are interested in promoting any of the trio when the Test series against England starts in a couple of weeks time with Mornantau Hayward, through the number of wickets he has taken so far this season offering a serious challenge.

The pace he generated at times during his spread of five wickets for 40 in 19.1 overs for South Africa A yesterday was more than encouraging as he helped dismember Sri Lanka A for a first innings score of 161, with wicketkeeper Nic Pothas having a hand in three of his dismissals.

As the Sri Lanka A total is 299 behind South Africas 460 for five declared the follow on is more than likely today when the game enters the third of its four days.

While there has been no visible presence of a national selector to judge the form of the young men they put into the South Africa A side to play Sri Lanka A, there is a possibility Dr Ali Bacher, managing-director of the United Cricket Board, may pass on his thoughts, if asked, to Majiet and Co.

David Terbrugge, Hayward and Victor Mpitsang did their bit to impress as much with their pace as well as the bounce they extracted from the surface of a pitch being used for only the second time since it was relaid a year ago. The result was that Sri Lanka A batted with a fair amount of indecision at times.

What the lack of a selector or two does indicate is that either they had made up their minds there are unlikely to be any changes, apart from Herschelle Gibbs for Doug Watson to the side for the second game starting in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday, or would rely on the coaches to report back.

In any event Terbrugge, who has always wanted to show what he can do with the new ball, was consistent enough: whether it is going to be enough to win back a Test place is another matter. He generated pace, lift and the sort of awkward bounce which makes it difficult for batsmen used to slow, low surfaces to handle with any comfort.

But it was Hayward who produced more pace than his new-ball partner. And the lift he achieved as well as the variation was interesting enough to create batting difficulties for the visitors who generally struggled to handle even the combative swing and bounce extracted by the A Team captain, Dale Benkenstein, who backed himself to slot in as the fourth seamer and collected two for 24 as his reward.

It was Benkenstein who broke the partnership of 50 between Sajith Fernando and Nimesh Perera which added the only backbone to the innings.

Mpitsang had his reward as well and gave a tidy enough display to show that his age is not a drawback: he may be 19 but he has the ability to grow into the role of fast bowling with a touch of swing.

In the end, however, it was Hayward aggressiveness which proved to be a touch too much for the visitors lower order where he collected three of his five wickets: a convincing enough performance to suggest to the selectors he might be worth a second glance.

Ashwell Prince and Pieter Strydom added 114 for the fourth wicket as the South Africans cashed in again on some loose bowling from Sri Lanka A after an initial tight spell in the first hour.

© Cricinfo

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Matches

Sri Lanka A v South Africa A

Series/Tournaments

Sri Lanka A tour of South Africa

Teams

South Africa

Sri Lanka

Grounds

SuperSport Park