Carnage in Cape Town as wickets tumble

Border and Boland were frustrated by rain in East London, as no play was possible till after the tea break when the skies cleared. Murray Ranger took three of the four wickets to fall in the Boland innings to help restrict them to 149 for 4 at the close, after forties from both the openers Louw and Prinsloo who put on 61 for the first wicket.

A 160-run ninth-wicket partnership between Roger Telemachus and Tello Motsamai allowed Free State to recover from 85 for 8 to declare at 250 for 9. Telemachus, having waited 69 first-class matches to record his maiden career hundred, made it a memorial one scoring 116 off 112 balls in which he struck 15 fours and three sixes. Motsamai also recorded his first half-century. For Griqualand West, Ruan Pietersen impressed with his seamers, returning career-best figures of 4 for 44. At the close Griquas had moved to 228 for 3 after Jason Brooker (70) and Alan Kruger (103 not out) had put on a 174-run partnership for the third wicket.

Twenty-four wickets fell on a green Newlands pitch, as first Eastern Province declared at 59 for 9 and then Western Province struggled to 121. The Western Province seamers took full advantage of the early conditions with Mark de Stadler taking four wickets and Monde Mahlombe, on debut, taking three. Renier Munnik, a class above the rest, was the top scorer of the day with 59 not out while Lyall Meyer with 5 for 38 was the pick of the Eastern Province bowlers. Eastern Province faired slightly better in their second innings going to 115 for 5, a lead of 53 runs at the close.

Zimbabwe Under-23 made a good start to their Cup campaign as they reduced KwaZulu-Natal to 32 for 4 in the first hour of play at Chatsworth. Allen Mwayenga was the destroyer-in-chief picking up the first three wickets to fall, and he ended the day with 4 for 28. Two good partnerships followed for Natal as M Bekker (115) scored his maiden century, followed by a career-best 89 not out by Robert Frylinck. When bad light ended play with only 57 overs having been bowled, Natal were slightly better placed at 286 for 7.