Date-stamped : 11 Nov95 - 18:28
Benefit Match
Brian McMillan XI v Fanie de Villiers XI
Centurion Park, Verwoerdburg, 8 October 1995

MCMILLAN XI WALKS IT IN PRE-TOUR BASH

As a  pre-tour  practice session, it was an ideal  occasion   for
the  South African cricket squad that heads for Zimbabwe on Tues-
day.

And few of the vast crowd which attended the Fanie   de  Villiers
benefit  match  at  Centurion  Park on Sunday will have gone away
disappointed with the batting display the squad put on  dur-  ing
91.2 productive overs.

Brian McMillan`s XI put together an impressive  303/5, with  good
displays  from  Daryll  Cullinan  (58), Jonty Rhodes (57), Hansie
Cronje (70) and Gary Kirsten (68 not out).

The batting  of  Cullinan  and  Rhodes  in  particular served  up
an  hors  d`oeuvres for the main dish of the innings, which was a
partnership of  119  for  the  fifth  wicket  between Cronje  and
Kirsten, who arrived only a couple of hours before the match from
Australia, where he had been touring with Western Pro- vince.

The McMillan XI`s batting decimated the bowling  line- up  of  De
Villiers, Allan Donald, Craig Matthews, Adrian Kuiper, Pat Symcox
and Nicky Boje.

De Villiers, Donald and Boje were plundered merciless-  ly  on  a
belter of a pitch.

Only Symcox, who kept a fairly tight  line  in  taking  2/42  had
repectable figures.

The De Villiers XI got off to a flying   start   with   a  92-run
partnership  between  Blaise  Sommerville  and  Gerhardus Lieben-
berg in 67 minutes.

The run rate kept ticking over at more  than  five  to the  over,
but  with Roy Pienaar (24) and Mike Rindel (0) departing quickly,
it was left to Rudolf Steyn to try and keep the  innings together
which  he  dd as he made 78. But his innimngs, off only 70 balls,
ended when he top-edged McMillan to be caught and bowled.

With Clive Eksteen  chipping  in  with  four  wickets, three   of
them  caught and bowled, the De Villiers` XI were always going to
be short and they ran out of batsmen with 81  still  re- quired.

Source :: SAPA
<END> Contributed by Donald (eitan@rucus.ru.ac.za)