by LIAM DEL CARME in Kimberley
Western Province flirted with defeat before former captain John Commins stepped in and propelled his side to a four-wicket victory in their opening Standard Bank League match against Griqualand West at the Kimberley Country Club last night.
Commins (78) helped shed his team's early-season cobwebs with an innings which might not have been as fluent as one has come to expect from the former test player but no one will dispute his grit and dogged determination in his side's hour of need.
WP reached their 228 winning target with seven balls to spare but victory looked distant for large parts of their innings. The visitors were precariously placed on 62 for three when Commins strode to the crease but once the man of the match departed on 221 his side had victory firmly within their grasp.
In his 90-ball stay Commins played shots all around the wicket but Griquas will be quick to point to Morne Strydom's dropped catch as possibly the defining moment of the match.
Commins had looked out of sorts to start with and it was no surprise when the hosts' new Barbadian import Henderson Bryan found the leading edge with his score on nine.
The ball looped to a deepish mid-on where Strydom back-pedalled and seemingly had matters under control before the ball fell out of his outstretched left hand. Commins went on to smash three sixes and four fours, while able support came in the form of HD Ackerman (29), Eric Simons (23) and the typically gritty Alan Dawson (31 not out).
The first 30 overs of the WP innings produced little by way of entertainment as the Cape team left their charge until the last minute.
New recruit from Boland, Lloyd Ferreira (29) played sensibly in his 37-ball innings, while fellow opener Herschelle Gibbs (6) was so bogged down in his 18-ball stay that he played around a straight Garth Roe delivery.
Ferreira, normally a free-scoring batsman who loves to drive straight, hardly played a shot in aggression, while pinch-hitter Bradley Player, who came in at first drop, could only muster 14 off 35 deliveries.
Earlier the WP effort in the field featured three phases as Griquas reached 227 for nine in their 45 overs.
Although the first wicket only went down in the 16th over, WP had kept the Griquas batsmen in check through the nagging accuracy of opening duo Dean Payne and Alan Dawson. In humid conditions Payne and Dawson kept a tight rein and largely restricted Mickey Arthur and Martin Gidley to singles inside the first 10 overs.
The visitors' control in the initial stages was reflected in the fact that the first boundary came in the seventh over when Payne was smashed to the midwicket fence.
However, once the pair was replaced by Craig Matthews and Player respectively, the Griquas batsmen started to score freely. The sudden burst in the scoring rate came as both change bowlers adopted variable lengths, while the visitors fielding never rose to the standards the Newlands faithful is so accustomed to.
Arthur (38) and Gidley (40) gave the hosts a sound platform , adding 62 for the first wicket before the former skied a Player delivery to Lloyd Ferreira at wide mid-on. Gidley played some delightful shots before he too skied the ball to present Ferreira the second of his three catches.
The Griquas innings however gained much of its momentum through a plucky half-century from Willie Dry who frequently pierced the inner circle.
He was particularly severe on Dave Rundle (two for 53) who at times looked every bit like a bowler in semi-retirement, but in truth none of the WP bowlers would boast about their economy last night. Dry sped to 53 off 48 deliveries including six boundaries and two sixes before he needlesly slogged the ball down Gibbs' throat at deep midwicket.
Date-stamped : 04 Oct97 - 22:08