Tight draw for G'town schools XIs

HOSTS Kingswood and St Andrew's fought out a well-contested draw in their two-day declaration match played on the Gane Field at the weekend. Unfortunately, with the match interestingly poised after the first innings, heavy rain in Grahamstown forced play to be abandoned.

The schools opted to tweak the format of their declaration match this year and included an extra session by starting on Friday afternoon. They also decided to play a five-wicket second innings, as is done in the national junior weeks, with no forced declaration on the first innings. This means the innings will close once five second innings wickets have been lost.

After heavy rain in the week leading up to the fixture, Kingswood opted to bowl on a surface not as hard as normal. They decided to try to make inroads early on Friday afternoon, given a forecast of intense temperatures the next day.

St Andrew's though started superbly, batting well on what turned out to be a slow pitch. Kingswood managed to build some pressure and were soon rewarded as their rivals slipped to 74/5.

Anthony Dakin then played the conditions perfectly and almost single-handedly took St Andrew's to 129/5 at the close. He went on to score a his first century for the 1st XI the next morning, brilliantly steering his team out of trouble and putting them in a good position.

Chris McCarthy (36) assisted Dakin (104) and St Andrew's were eventually bowled out for 231. Josh Shelley (4/ 54) was Kingswood's most successful bowler.

With Kingswood not having capitalised on their good position, St Andrew's had the momentum going into the session before lunch. Kingswood needed to bat well, and Daine Kruger and Brad Haller did exactly that.

Kingswood reached lunch on 89/1. Haller was dismissed soon after the break for 28, while Kruger went on to make 68. Marco Lombard picked up where they left off and made a flawless 74 before being dismissed by a relieved St Andrew's XI.

St Andrew's College then fought back and picked up a few more wickets at about tea time, dismissing their opponents for 252, a lead of 21.

The St Andrew's bowlers had to toil hard and shared the wickets. Grant Dixie bagged the best figures, finishing with 3/53.

With only five wickets to be taken in the second innings, and 40 minutes left before the start of the last 20 overs of the day, the game was in an interesting position, with Kingswood focused on trying to take the five St Andrew's second innings wickets quickly and then chase down any lead.

However, the umpires were forced to delay the start of the second innings and when a massive downpour ensued, the match was abandoned.