NAMIBIA and Northern Cape were evenly poised at the end of the first day of their Sunfoil 3-Day Cup match in Windhoek on 12 October.
Northern Cape were all out for 309 in their first innings while Namibia replied with 83 for one wicket.
Northern Cape’s opening batsman Driaan Bruwer led their run onslaught, scoring a fine century before he was dismissed for 101, which came off 216 balls and included 11 fours.
Northern Cape won the toss and elected to bat on a batsman’s wicket that gave the pace bowlers little assistance.
Namibian leg spinner Nicolaas Scholtz made the first breakthrough, dismissing Kagisho Pedi for 27 with the total on 50, and when Danie van Schoor struck in the next over to dismiss Warren Bell for a duck, Northern Cape had lost two wickets for 51 on the board.
Aubrey Swanepoel however joined Bruwer to put the visitors on top with a great third wicket partnership.
They added 118 runs before Swanepoel was bowled by Bernard Scholtz for 78 with the total on 169.
Northern Cape were well placed for a big score but Namibia’s spin bowlers plugged away and picked up regular wickets.
Zakir Khatrada and Zandre Swartz were both dismissed for 10, while Desmond de Koker scored 30 and Reece Williams a rapid 29 off only 21 balls before the whole team was out for 309 off 81,1 overs.
Nicolaas Scholtz was Namibia’s best bowler, taking four wickets for 72 runs off 23 overs, while Danie van Schoor took 2/57 off 12 and Bernard Scholtz 2/67 off 19 overs.
Namibia got off to a good start in their reply as Stephen Baard and JP Kotze put on 79 runs for the first wicket.
Kotze was dismissed shortly before stumps, LBW by Swanepoel for 26 off 57 balls (4×4).
Baard was not out on 45 off 68 balls (8×4), while Jean Bredenkamp still had to open his account.
The match continues at 10h00 on Friday morning.
The scorecard:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8876/scorecard/1123444/Namibia-vs-Northern-Cape–sunfoil-3-day-cup
