Cricket/Women's World Cup: The South African national swimming championships are due to be held shortly in East London but if the torrential and protracted downpour that washed out Ireland's first game in the 2005 Women's Cricket World Cup continues like it threatens to, they may as well be moved to the batting square at Centurion.
With South Africa's mediocre innings almost complete yesterday the heavens opened and within half and hour a lake formed where a cricket ground once stood. And after a couple of hours of staring at a grey and thunderous sky while hard-working groundstaff fought a batting with the elements, reality prevailed and the game was abandoned with the points shared.
It was tough for the Irish because, with South Africa limping towards a total of 204 for seven with two overs remaining when the rain came, Clare Shillington and her team were confident of knocking off the runs to register the first major upset of the tournament.
Before the game they reckoned 250 was about par on a true pitch and fast outfield. Mind you, considering they had South Africa in serious trouble at 92 for five, the home team did well to get over 200, thanks to a gutsy 90-run partnership between Claire Terblanche and Shandre Fritz.
Ireland bowled well for the most part, with Barbara McDonald coming away with excellent figures of two for 26 off her 10 overs, including the prize scalp of teenager Johmari Logtenberg, South Africa's biggest batting threat. Jill Whelan also picked up two wickets and Miriam Grealey did well to restrict South Africa towards the end of the innings. However, Ireland gave away too many extras (30, including 19 wides) and will know that level of inconsistency is unacceptable at this level.
If South African coach Stephen Jones was relieved to get away with a share of the points, he wasn't admitting it afterwards. "I would like to have completed the battle. I think we would have been able to defend that total. But I was impressed with Ireland in the first hour. They used the overcast conditions very well, taking the pace off the ball. They have the makings of a good team," he said.
Shillington was also frustrated with how the day ended up. "We had a real shout at a win there today. I am very disappointed. We did half the job very well and we were looking forward to finishing it," she said.
There was bad news concerning vice-captain Cecelia Joyce, who damaged her hamstring fielding a ball on the boundary after just eight overs. She hobbled off the field and is now classed as doubtful for the rest of the tournament. More will be known after a session with the physio today. Marianne Herbert and Jill Smythe are both nursing muscle strains, too, so the Irish squad is down to the bare 11 fully fit players.
Elsewhere in the city, the other games also fell foul of the weather so all eight teams sit on equal points after the first round of matches. Tomorrow Ireland take on India in the University of Technology, a team ranked alongside the South Africans.
At Centurion
SOUTH AFRICA:
D Terblanche c Linehan b J Whelan 36
CZ Brits b McDonald 17
J Logtenberg c Linehan b McDonald 7
A Smith b Coffey 5
A Hodgkinson b Grealey 12
S Fritz run out 48
C Terblanche not out 41
T Reeves c Linehan b J Whelan 2
C van der Westhuizen not out 6
DNB: A Kilowan, L de Beer
Extras: (3lb, 19w, 8nb) 30
TOTAL (for 7, 48 overs) 204
Fall: 32, 42, 57, 87, 92, 182, 187
Bowling: H Whelan 10-0-57-0; McDonald 10-0-26-2; Coffey 10-0-45-1; J Whelan 9-0-38-2; Grealey 9-1-33-1.
Rain stopped play (3pts each).
At Harlequins: New Zealand: 178-7 (50 overs) (Lewis 77, Thomas 2-19, Williams 2-32); West Indies did not bat. Match Abandoned, No Result, 3pts each.
At Technicon Oval: England: 169-7 (50 overs) (Gunn 40*, Newton 31, Hayes 2-32); Australia did not bat. Match Abandoned, No Result, 3pts each.
At Laudium Oval: Sri Lanka: 116 (46.5 overs) (Siriwardena 29, David 3-17); India: 4-0 (2 overs). Match Abandoned, No Result, 3pts each.
League Table
P W L NR L Pts
Australia 1 0 0 0 1 3
England 1 0 0 0 1 3
India 1 0 0 0 1 3
Ireland 1 0 0 0 1 3
New Zealand 1 0 0 0 1 3
South Africa 1 0 0 0 1 3
Sri Lanka 1 0 0 0 1 3
West Indies 1 0 0 0 1 3
