Gauteng, EP call it a day

On a frustrating day of high confusion, during which rulings were made and overturned, the Standard Bank Cup third leg semifinal match between Gauteng and Eastern Province at the Wanderers was, mercifully, eventually called off on Monday afternoon.

It will now be replayed as a 45 overs-a-side contest on Friday, from 4pm, with Saturday as a reserve day.

Gauteng resumed their reduced innings on Monday under leaden skies and scored 193-6 in their allotted 32 overs. Eastern Province had advanced to 31-2, after nine overs, when the heavens opened and umpires Dave Orchard and Ian Howell took the players off the field.

Under the terms of the UCB playing conditions, Eastern Province could have resumed batting at 4.30pm and still managed to complete the 25 overs required to constitute a completed innings, but an announcement was made, after consultation with the umpires, that the match would have to be replayed if 38 minutes were lost due to the rain.

Those 38 minutes duly passed with no let-up in the rain and Eastern Province's Meyrick Pringle and Dave Callaghan, who was not out on four when rain forced the players off the field, were seen outside the visitors' dressingroom in civilian clothes and with beers in hand.

On hearing that the match had been called off, Eastern Province had brought forward their flight out of Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth to 4.45pm, but the umpires then consulted United Cricket Board of South Africa director of umpiring and playing affairs, Brian Basson, who ruled that, as stipulated in the playing conditions, the match could continue if the weather cleared.

No-one seemed to be too sure of what was happening and Basson eventually arrived at the ground and walked out with the umpires to inspect the pitch under what were dry but still threatening skies.

Callaghan, reportedly on his third beer of the day in the belief that the match had been called off, also made an appearance out in the middle to join in a discussion punctuated by much arm waving and head shaking.

Eastern Province's target was duly revised to 164 in 25 overs, meaning they still required 133 to win in 16 overs, at 8,3 runs to the over but, after much to-ing and fro-ing between the changerooms by the umpires, sanity prevailed and the match was called off at 2pm.