Another tough day for Cobras

Nantie Hayward struck two mortal blows in his first over to give the bowlers a domination they were not to lose all day in the SuperSport Series match at Newlands on Thursday.

When JP Duminy came to the crease to face the sixth ball of the match, the Cobras, having won the toss, were 0/2 on a pitch that did not look dissimilar to the one used for the Australian Test match in 2006.

There was encouraging bounce and movement off the seam for all the quicker bowlers and, by the end of the day, the Cobras first innings total of 164 was almost starting to look competitive with the Warriors 93/3 in reply for a deficit of 69.

In the conditions Hayward proved to be a particularly difficult customer to handle. He had Derrin Bassage caught behind off the fourth ball of the match, castled Andrew Puttick a delivery later and then came back to give Vernon Philander a rough time with several blows to the body.

Then, in his final spell, he trapped Thami Tsolekile lbw at a stage when it looked as though the restored Cobras captain and his deputy, Con de Lange, might give the innings a bit more respectability with a partnership of exactly 50 in 43 minutes.

Despite the difficult conditions, the Cobras were far from blameless for their low total. Philander managed to run himself out courtesy of a direct hit by Johan Botha on the non-striker's wicket from square leg, Henry Davids missed an over-pitched delivery altogether and De Lange was bowled around his legs by Robin Peterson.

Duminy batted with more composure than most of his colleagues but again he got out for a low score when he was starting to look well set.

There were eight batsmen in the Cobras innings who got out in double figures, most of whom reached at least 20, and the malaise extended to the Warriors, who lost their first three batsmen for similar contributions.

The top-of-the-table clash at Potchefstroom between the Titans and the Lions followed much the same patch with the home side being routed for 132 in only 48 overs. Alfonso Thomas and Morné Morkel took four wickets each.

The Titans also started poorly in their reply with two wickets falling to the part-time medium-pace of Blake Snijman in one over. Gulam Bodi and Albie Morkel, however, then pulled things together in an unbroken partnership of 68 for the fifth wicket in 17 overs.

In contrast to these two matches, the runs flowed at Kingsmead where the Diamond Eagles reached 309/3 in 96 overs. Loots Bosman contributed 117.