Rindel and Pienaar engineer Northerns batting triumph

Trevor Chesterfield, Pretoria News
Sun, 04 Oct 1998

In an incredible batting display both scored centuries as Northerns, set an improbable target of 256 at a fraction under six runs an over, won by eight wickets in dramatic fashion with one ball remaining in their Standard Bank League match against Free State.

It needed a six by Steve Elworthy off the bowling of Hansie Cronje to clinch what had become the sort of nail-biting victory the crowd may enjoy but could have been achieved with less fuss and bother by the batting legends.

Rindel and Pienaar, with skill and expertise, put together a first-wicket record partnership of 240, demolishing the 222 held by Neil Johnson and Doug Watson against Easterns at Willowmoore Park two seasons ago.

It was their ability to cleverly rotate the strike as well as take the fight to a feisty Free State bowling attack which enabled Rindel to score his eighth limited-overs century and end undefeated on 123 while Pienaar's three-figure score was a superb display of style and technique and his first major contribution in five seasons.

And if ever Cronje needed a reminder of a limited-overs batsman of class and quality, he was given a hands on display from Rindel on how to handle pressure conditions. Rindel went to three figures off only 95 balls with 14 fours while Pienaar's century included a six and nine fours. Mere statistics which show nothing of the total command both batsmen displayed last night.

Rindel also collected his 15th man of the match award after Northerns and earned an accolade along side that of Pienaar's.

Between them they carved up the Free State bowling with Allan Donald giving away 55 runs in his nine overs and new-comer Matthew Hoggard also being plastered around the field.

Both centuries overshadowed the undefeated 114 by Gerry Liebenberg, around which the Free State total of 255 for four was built. Liebenberg and Kovsie Venter sparkled in a first wicket partnership of 44, which did much to set up what was going to be a challenging target on a slowish pitch with a lightning fast outfield.

The tall South African test opener, overlooked for the international one-day sides in England, the Commonwealth Games and Bangladesh, did a pretty solid job of keeping the momentum going. In fact Free State owe much to the upright batsman for rotating the strike during the middle stages of the innings.

But it was the last five overs where most of the damage was done to the bowling figures as young Dippenaar and then Nicky Boje helped themselves.

Liebenberg and Boje added 49 runs at more than 12 runs an over in the last 4.3 overs. And there was some big scoring shots with Liebenberg picking a six off a sweep shot neatly worked around the corner followed by a drive for four. It was the sort of frenetic batting tactics which the Springbok Park crowd, brought up on wors and beer, enjoy. Northerns bowlers worked hard to contain the run flow but the fielding leaked runs during the Liebenberg/Dippenaar partnership which was stylish as well as productive. No matter how he plugged the gaps, the Titans captain, Davis, quickly discovered other areas spung a leak.

Hansie Cronje, seen as the bigger danger, did not play the sort of shot you would expect from a man who had batted with such assurance a week ago. He was forced into playing too soon and scooped the ball to Bryson at short mid-wicket. Perhaps making the right impact he would have liked in his first day/night league match for Free State in two seasons.