da bwin： Centurion: In a display of style and maturity Justin Ontong helpedBoland to two easy batting points and himself to an impressivefirst-class half century as the visitors continued to dominate theirSuper Eights A Section match against Northerns
Trevor Chesterfield05-Dec-1999Centurion: In a display of style and maturity Justin Ontong helpedBoland to two easy batting points and himself to an impressivefirst-class half century as the visitors continued to dominate theirSuper Eights A Section match against Northerns yesterday.A far more organised and professional looking-side since their lastvisit to SuperSport Park a year ago, Boland were seven-three ahead inthe bonus points race on day two of the opening round of the series.With day one all but washed out and the need to establish some sort ofbatting mastery, Ontong led from the front to score a career best 78as the visitors reached 253 for seven when bad light forced an earlyclosure.With Steve Palframan his partner, Ontong held firm against somehostile bowling from Greg Smith, Steve Elworthy and David Townsendduring an impressive batting performance which added 161 runs to helpBoland out of trouble after being a beleaguered 79 for five.Still only 19 Ontong was by far the senior partner during thesixth-wicket stand and in the process surpassed the 71 scored earlierthis year against Scotland for the SA Academy. While Palframan wasfree-flowing and attacking Palframan often gave the impression ofbeing an apprentice journeyman trying to impress his older peers andlucky to be there for his score of 76 at the close.Ontong though batted with care and attention and mixed with sumptuousdrives and audacious pull strokes, there is little doubt he could bealready part of the national selectors thinking when the A Team ischosen for the West Indies tour next April/May.Northerns bowling was steady and aggressive and when the three quickskept the ball up to the batsmen it had them in trouble.Hard as it is, however, to admire the batting efforts of Dug Gainwhose innings of 13 lasted two and a half hours; strokeless and attimes lacking in purpose, he did at least help blunt the Northernsbowlers who were looking for more success after a lamentable battingeffort which drew unpleasant parallels with last season’s shakystart.Yet when Gerald Dros was brought into the Northerns attack and servedup a mixture of military medium and regulation declaration stylebowling, the lack a forth seamer or spinner who could be classed as afrontline specialist was all too obvious. It meant that Neil McKenziewas unable to continue with the pressure created when Ontong wasjoined by Palframan with the score at 79 for five in the 35th over ofthe innings.When the 50 partnership between the two was posted Dros had given away28 runs and what pressure there had been was gone.Earlier Henry Williams collected five wickets for five runs asNortherns fell apart for a paltry first innings total of 98.Williamsended with six for 39 to take his haul to 3o this season and his thirdfive wicket haul.