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Western Province 'B' take the lead at Constantia Peter le Grange - 26 October 2002
The second day of the UCB Bowl match at Constantia was characterised by dramatic swings of fortune. By close of play, Western Province B had extended their lead to 141 but had just three wickets in hand. Border got off to the worst of starts, losing nightwatchman Siyabulela Nelani to a superb piece of fielding in the covers by William Hantam in the first over of the day. Wickets continued to tumble, and by the first drinks break the visitors were still 264 runs behind with half the team dismissed. Enter Abongile Sodumo. Showing no inhibitions despite the desperate position, he raced to his fifty off just 53 balls. He was fortunate to be dropped in the deep when on 33. The diminutive Michael Matika was slightly more restrained, but also played some sparkling shots as the pair added 126 for the 6th wicket in 123 minutes. Losing his partner with his own score on 72, Sodumo slowed down marginally, his second 50 coming off 78 balls. He nevertheless shared another useful partnership of 52 in 56 minutes with Geoff Love before the bottom fell out of the innings as Hantam and Bailey claimed the last 4 wickets in the space of 5 overs despite the stylish efforts of last batsman Benett Sekonyane. Western Province had 37 overs to face before the close of play. First innings centurion Derrin Bassage failed this time, hitting tamely to cover point. Rashaad Magiet worked hard to compensate for his first innings failure, but Sodumo produced a direct hit when Magiet was sent back by his partner. Jonno McLean was just getting into his stride when he was caught behind, but the real drama was still to come. With the pitch starting to crumble, visiting captain Justin Kreusch introduced his spinners in tandem. Four wickets fell in the space of eight balls as they caused havoc with the WP batting. Jean-Paul Duminy was one of Love's victims after he had played some elegant strokes against leg-spinner Warwick Hinkel in particular. Wesley Euley and Hantam saw off the last 16 balls of the day with fielders clustered around the bat, and much pressure will be on them as they will need to get the lead to about 200, which could be a winning score as the pitch takes more spin. © CricInfo Ltd
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