SA Invitation XI v West Indians…Cottrell grab 5-16 before Samuels (103*) and Smith (83*)

Dec 11, 2014 Sports

Set-up dominant day for visitors

If South Africa’s Test outfit thought taking on West Indies was going to be easy, Stiaan van Zyl will tell them it might not quite so simple. He was the only member of the squad playing in Benoni, where the tourists dominated an Invitation XI with both bat and ball.
Left-arm seamer Sheldon Cottrell claimed 5-16 that sliced through the South Africans batting. Cottrell’s first wicket came in the sixth over and he barely stopped plucking them all the way through to the 37th, when the last man fell shortly after the second session began.
Jerome Taylor supported with 2-12 as the hosts fell for 125 on day one of the three-day warm up game yesterday.
By the close the West Indies had reached 217-2 with Marlon Samuels, the dominant partner, unbeaten on 102-ball 103, with 76 of his runs coming in fours, while Devon Smith, the leading run scorer in the WICB Four-Day Franchises, not out on 83 off 144 balls, with a six and 12 fours. The Carribean side are enjoying a lead of 92 runs with eight wickets standing.
Van Zyl was not one of Cottrell’s victims, though. He was dismissed by Jason Holder, after scoring just 23. Interestingly, van Zyl batted in his regular No.3 spot, not the No.7 position he is expected to occupy during the first Test in JP Duminy’s absence or the opening position he is targeting in the long term.
The South African Invitation side’s batting line-up didn’t contain any other big names and it showed when it was their Number eight, Aviwe Mgijima who top-scored with 35. The only other contribution of significance came from Under-19 World Cup winning wicketkeeper-batsman Clyde Fortuin, who scored 34.
In reply, the West Indian batsmen were put on the back foot by Rory Kleinveldt. His two early wickets got rid of Kraigg Brathwaite (12) and Leon Johnson for a duck but the visitors soon recovered, as Smith, called up to the squad to replace Chris Gayle, and Samuels shared in an unbroken third-wicket stand of 182, which came at a rollicking 5.20 runs per over.
Kleinveldt and Dolphins quick Daryn Dupavillon were the only Invitation bowlers to concede less than four runs an over.