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South Africa's free-scoring middle-order batsman AB de Villiers has moved up five places to 11th in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player rankings for Test batsmen following the Proteas' victory over the West Indies in Barbados on Tuesday
CSA REGIONAL CUBS WEEK
COBRAS TEACH ZIMBABWE ABOUT BOUNCE
Derick Williams
Cape Cobras Cubs took on the Zimbabwean Under 19 side on Coetzenberg in Stellenbosch. The flick of the coin went in favor of the Cobras who had no reservations for batting first on another sweltering day. Proximity to the ocean meant that at least in theory the Coetzenberg grounds should be a touch cooler than the Paarl or Wellington.
According to coach Clinton Ravens the pitch at Coetzenberg was lively early on and definitely assisted the bowlers. Cobras felt the brunt of this reality as wickets fell at regular intervals with no one save Edmeades challenging the Zimbabwean attack. Consider that after Edmeades who scored a solid 80 the only other fellow to almost go beyond 20 was Pippon who managed 19.
Price and Chatara were the bowlers who inflicted most of the damage collectively taking 4 of the 9 wickets. Price in terms of wickets edged his nose in front with his analysis of 10 / 2 / 44 / 3 but Chatara with his miserly spell of 9 / 0 / 23 / 1 was more economical.
As for the boys from Zimbabwe their quest took an immediate wobble and after only 9 overs they were 16 / 4. Early damage was inflicted by that man Fortune who ended with 3 / 21. With the skids in place they slumped even further loosing another 3 wickets to stand at 63 / 7. Supporting Fortune were Lukas with 2 / 13 and Henry with his 2 / 16. There was some resistance though as Mutombodzi scored a recalcitrant 30.
However with such a sustained attack from the Cape Cobras Cubs bowlers it was only a matter of time before the horizontally challenged lady was to sing. Zimbabwe were eventually all out for a meager 93. It meant that in the end the 205 which was a modest and not at all a challenging total was a bridge too far for the boys from our neighboring country.
It stands to be questioned though what the total would have looked like without the efforts of one Mr. Edmeades. One could also argue that the cobras handled the early life in the pitch better than their visiting opponents and in a roundabout fashion taught their opponents a lesson or two about how to handle bouncy pitches.
Cricket Chronicles read victory to Cape Cobras Cubs by 112 runs.