Impalas and Iinyathi off to good starts

STEENKAMP STARS WITH THE BAT FOR IMPALAS

Louren Steenkamp stroked 19 fours and two sixes on his way to a brilliant career-best score of 136 runs which helped Limpopo Impalas reach 274 all out on day one of their CSA 4-Day Challenge encounter against the Six Gun Grill Garden Route Badgers at Recreation Ground in Oudtshoorn on Wednesday.

Steenkamp was the only Impalas batter to score more than 40 runs. No 9 batter Ntoko Mahlaba was the only other batter to cross the 30-run mark. Steenkamp's runs were only two runs short of half of the Impalas' total.

In their reply, the Garden Route Badgers were on 22 for the loss of one wicket at stumps. The Garden Route Badgers trail Limpopo Impalas by 252 runs with nine wickets in hand.

Limpopo Impalas' steady and promising opening partnership between Liam Peters and Ludwig Kaestner accumulated 23 runs from 71 balls before it was broken by Andre Malan when the 31-year-old allrounder dismissed Liam Peters for 10.

Kaestner and Thomas Hobson's second-wicket partnership did not fare much better than the preceding one between Peters and Kaestner. The Kaestner-Hobson pairing was broken when Kaestner was dismissed, caught and bowled by Sean Whitehead. Kaestner had scored 18 runs from 51 deliveries.

Eighteen balls after Kaestner's dismissal, the Impalas had passed the 50-run mark but also lost their third wicket. Ruan Haasbroek, who is 25 and previously was on the North West Dragons' books, failed to make a lasting impact after he was dismissed by Onke Nyaku for a run-a-ball 10.

3.4 overs later, the Impalas were in even more trouble. They were struggling on 63 for the loss of four wickets and they were still in the morning session. Thomas Hobson was the Impalas' fourth wicket to fall and Nyaku's second scalp of the day. Hobson was scoring at a rate of a run every two deliveries. The 28-year-old fell after scoring 17 runs.

Louren Steenkamp and Morne Venter constructed a 59-run partnership that steadied the Impalas' innings for a brief period. The pair shared the crease for exactly 14 overs. Their promising partnership was broken in the 40th over when Andre Malan claimed his second wicket of the innings with the dismissal of Morne Venter for 25.

Andre Malan claimed his third wicket 16 deliveries later when he bowled the Impalas' hero from last week, Sizwe Masondo, for only four runs. In the Impalas' previous 4-day match, Masondo recorded his highest first class score when the 35-year-old scored an outstanding 157 runs. He was unable to replicate that performance.

After Masondo's dismissal, the responsibility to make sure that the Impalas reached a respectable total fell squarely on Louren Steenkamp's shoulders.

UNFAZED

For his part, Steenkamp was unfazed by the clattering wickets around him. The 25-year-old batter remained focused on the task at hand and celebrated his second first class half-century a short while later.

Steenkamp, with Ntoko Mahlaba keeping him company, saw the Impalas past the 200-run. In the process, the 25-year-old surpassed his previous first class high score, which was 56 runs, and also recorded his maiden first class century. It took Steenkamp nine innings for him to score a first class ton.

Steenkamp and Malaba put together an innings-defining 135-run seventh-wicket partnership. The partnership spanned over 37.4 overs.

The partnership was broken by Sean Whitehead when the 25-year-old left-arm spinner trapped Malaba lbw for an impressive 38 from 105 balls in his 15th over. Whitehead made it two wickets in two overs when he dismissed Steenkamp in his 16th over.

Steenkamp departed from the crease after scoring a career-best 136 runs from 188 deliveries.

Limpopo Impalas' mini-collapse continued when Zakhele Qwabe was dismissed, run out by Matthew Christensen, four overs after Steenkamp's dismissal. Two overs after Qwabe's dismissal, Basheeru-Deen Walters dismissed Sithembile Langa to wrap up the Limpopo Impalas' innings.

Allrounder Andre Malan was the Garden Route Badgers' most successful bowler with three wickets from 16 overs. Malan bowled four maidens and had an economy of 2.56 runs an over.

Sean Whitehead also took three wickets in his 18 overs. The left-arm spinner bowled five maidens but had a slightly higher economy rate of 3.22 runs an over.

The Garden Route Badgers sent in openers Blayde Capell and Matthew Christensen to bat late on Thursday.

The hope was that the pair would see the home team through to stumps unscathed. But Sithembile Langa had other ideas. The 27-year-old seamer gave the Impalas a breakthrough when he dismissed Matthew Christensen for a 22-ball six runs.

Christensen's wicket also brought a close to day one's proceedings. At stumps, Blayde Capell (15*) and Jhedli van Briesies were at the crease.

Sithembile Langa was Limpopo Impalas' only successful bowler in the 8.3 overs that his team bowled. Langa took one wicket from 4.3 overs and bowled one maiden. Langa's bowling partner Zakhele Qwabe bowled four overs, two maidens and like Langa, conceded 11 runs.

YIKHA, NQOLO HOLD THE FORT

Nonelela Yikha and Jerry Nqolo scored half-centuries to help Eastern Cape Iinyathi reach 225 runs for the loss of six wickets at stumps on day one of their CSA 4-Day Challenge encounter against Eastern Storm at Buffalo Park, East London, on Thursday.

Yikha’s 118-ball 58 featured six fours while Nqolo’s 67 runs, which came off 150 deliveries, featured nine fours and a single six.

The hosts, who won the toss and chose to bat first, did not have the ideal start to their innings as they lost early wickets. Eastern Cape Iinyathi lost two wickets inside the first 10 overs of the match.

Jerome Bossr, who was playing in his first first class innings of the season, did not have the start he would have liked. The 24-year-old was dismissed for a 14-ball duck by Amaan Khan in the fourth over. 4.4 overs later, what had looked like a promising rebuild turned out to be a lurch forward.

Eastern Cape Iinyathi lost their second wicket with the dismissal of Joshua van Heerden after 8.3 overs. Van Heerden was dismissed by Divan Posthumus in the pacer's first over of the morning.

Jason Niemand and Nonelela Yikha stabilized the Eastern Cape Iinyathi innings with a 91-run partnership that saw the hosts to lunch without losing another wicket. Niemand contributed 46 runs to that partnership and the 23-year-old former SA Under-19 player fell four runs short of his seventh first class half-century.

Yikha soldiered on post-Niemand's dismissal. The 21-year-old batter was in his 40s when Niemand was dismissed and it took him a further 6.2 overs for him to score the less the runs that led him to his fourth first class half-century.

However, Yikha failed to kick on after his half-century. The 21-year-old only managed to add a further eight runs before he was dismissed for a well-played 58 from 118 balls by Posthumus.

Yikha had not finished removing his pads and batting gear when Thomas Kaber joined him in the dressing room. Kaber faced five deliveries for his duck.

Jerry Nqolo followed in Yikha's footsteps and also scored a patient half-century. The 31-year-old former Warriors player faced 130 deliveries to bring up his 14th first class half-century. Nqolo was also one part of the pair that saw Eastern Cape Iinyathi past the 200-run mark. His partner in the middle was Joshua Dodd.

Joshua Dodd (19*) and Mncedisi Malika (2*) were at the crease at stumps.

Nqolo contributed the majority of runs to his 68-run partnership with Dodd, who chipped in with 18 runs. Their pairing was disrupted when Nqolo was bowled by Shane Dadswell as the 24-year-old pacer claimed his second wicket of the innings.

RAIN WASHES OUT TUSKERS-NORTERN CAPE HEAT MATCH

There was no play on day one of the CSA 4-Day Challenge match between the AET Tuskers and Northern Cape Heat at the Pietermaritzburg Oval, Pietermaritzburg.

Early on Thursday morning, the forecast was hopeful that the match would merely be delayed by rain and would start after the lunch interval. However, that was not to be as the rain continued to pour down and made it impossible for any cricket to be played.