Rain, bad light and the toss help Gauteng

Johannesburg - Eastern Province, after being beaten by the rain last weekend, have only themselves to blame for the position they find themselves in at the end of day one in their SuperSport Series match against Gauteng at The Wanderers Stadium.

Winning the toss on an overcast morning with rain about and a pitch that had a slight green tinge to it, the battle seemed to be half won, but for some inexplicable reason captain Mark Rushmere decided to bat first.

Having lost nine overs to rain in the morning session Eastern Province battled through with only 12 runs coming from the first 16 overs of play and David Terbrugge and Andrew Hall holding the upper hand. Terbrugge used the conditions especially well moving the ball away from, and into the batsmen.

Walter Masimula, in only his forth first class match, initiated the breakthrough soon after lunch finishing the day with 4/35. It was however Andrew Hall who wrapped up the Eastern Province innings with 5/20. Both bowlers recording their best first class bowling figures.

With batsmen sparring outside the off and looking out of touch with their game it was left to Dave Callaghan (29), Mark Bradfield (18) and a flutter at the end from Mornantau Hayward (14) to get Eastern Province to 99 all out and leave Gauteng with four bowling bonus points.

The final interruption came through bad light after Gauteng had progressed their total to 24/0 off eight overs with Adam Bacher on 18 and Sven Koenig on four. 42.3 overs had been lost through the day.