Strong starts for WP and Northerns in Provincial Men’s tournament

WESTERN Province batted first under overcast skies on the first day of their three-day match of the Senior Provincial Men's Tournament being hosted by Northern Cape Cricket at the Kimberley Diamond Oval, on Tuesday.

WP opening batsman Jack Newby, had moved on to a useful 33 not out with the score on 64/1 at the lunch break. Newby and Bonga Makaka, 24, put on a second wicket partnership of 60 runs, taking the score to 78 before Makaka was trapped lbw.

André Malan then joined Newby and the two then put on a 91-run partnership to take the score to 169/2 at the tea interval, with Newby on 85 not out and Malan on 40 not out.

Newby went on to score a great ton ending on 102 from 224 balls, while Malan was dismissed on 45.

At the close of play Western Province were on 212/4, with the two not out batsmen, J Christensen 14 and L Kgoatle 7. The successful Northern Cape bowlers were B Swanepoel 1/19, A Rasemane 1/24 and A Swanepoel 2/43.

Meanwhile, over at the Country Club B field where eta Northerns were taking on the SA Under-19 outfit, the youngsters were dismissed for a measly 41 in their first innings in only 27.5 overs. The top scorer for the SA Under-19s was D Brevis with 12, while G Cloete took 3/12 and M Brett 1/12.

In reply, eta Northerns ended the day on 205/3 in 47 overs, the top scorers were G Koopman 82, D Rosier 65 not out and J Pillay 28, while N Steyn 1/38, A Simelane 1/26 and M Copeland 1/22 were SA Under-19 wicket-takers.

The matches continue tomorrow, weather permitting.