Outrageous efforts from Lombard and Tai
The local cricket team has been in outstanding form this summer.
Ashley Lombard played the inning of his life for Southern KwaZulu-Natal against Simplex Crimson at the Siripat 1 ground in Durban last Sunday.
He smashed 234 not out, clubbing the ball to all parts, cracking 22 sixes and a 14 fours.
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It was a brutal assault that not even Lombard himself saw coming.
“It was a scorching hot day, there wasn’t too much running between the wickets,” he said with a wry grin.
He came in at number four after Sahal Mansur was out for nine and Sachin Kalkapersad for six, out to a second successive questionable umpiring decision.
Southern KZN eventually made 391 all out in the 47th over of the Promotion A League game.
Lombard was understandably a little tired afterwards and opted out of wicket-keeping duties. “I gave Morné Bishop the gloves,” he said.
He was also somewhat surprised. “I’d been making some runs in the KZN districts games and the T20 competition but obviously didn’t know I was going to make this many,” he said.
He was dropped twice: the first when on around 60 – a very difficult chance – and the second two metres from the boundary fence, but on the wrong side of it!
For the record, scores were as follows: Mansur 9, Kalkapersad 6, Bishop 50, Lombard 234*, Alveiro Nadasen 11, Raja Kazi 2, Gershion Lawrence 16, Zayn Moosa 1, Sajid Tai 0, Mzenzele Dingaan 8, Ahmed Desai 28.
The duck obviously got to Tai, because he ripped through Simplex’s batting line-up with his left-arm leg-spinners, taking 7-10 in 7.4 overs overs.
A highlight of his day was breaking a stump, not something spinners do regularly, if ever.
The other three wickets were taken by off-spinner Lawrence, who picked up three for 26 in six overs.
They were bowled out for just 51, meaning that Southern KZN won by 340 runs.
Kazi bowled one over for 13 runs, arguably his most expensive over since South Africa was readmitted into international cricket.
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