Rain forces Windies draw
The heavy rainfall on the night of Thursday, December 11, and the morning of Friday, December 12 forced a draw in the three-day warm-up match between the West Indies and the South African Invitation XI, at Willowmoore Park.
There was, however, only play on the first two days in Benoni and it was the touring West Indians who dominated the proceedings.
Bowling first on Wednesday, December 10, skipper Denesh Ramdin’s team and left-arm paceman Sheldon Cottrell (5/16) blitzed the young South Africans with the ball.
They were bowled out for a paltry 125 runs in their first innings.
When the West Indians stepped up to the crease it was the left-handed opener Devon Smith (174 retired out) and the experienced Marlon Samuels (203 retired out) who put on a monstrous third-wicket stand of 360 runs, of the total team’s first innings score of 508 all out.
They smashed 62 boundaries between them in 59 overs.
The SA Invitation XI put on 17 runs for no loss when bad light stopped play on Thursday.
That would be the last action of the match, as Friday’s scheduled 95 overs of play were called off due to the wet weather.
