da spicy bet： North West dealt another blow to Easterns’ fading hopes of reaching thismonth’s Supersport Series final when they carved out a potentiallymatch-winning lead of 230 on Friday
Grant Shimmin – MWP09-Mar-2001North West dealt another blow to Easterns’ fading hopes of reaching thismonth’s Supersport Series final when they carved out a potentiallymatch-winning lead of 230 on Friday.Some lusty hitting by North West’s stocky wicket-keeper, Ezra Poole, whocracked 28 off his last 32 deliveries to move to a maiden first-class 50before he was last man out, prolonged the agony for the home side, who hadwatched a series of medium-range partnerships mount up.By the close, Easterns were three without loss in their second innings witha mountain to climb to avoid defeat, let alone fashion an unlikely victory.Things looked reasonably bright in the morning session when Easterns hadMorne Strydom (37) and Craig Light (25) back in the hut with 37 added toNorth West’s overnight tally of 117 for three. But the chances of themkeeping the deficit to something they could conceivably have gone past withseveral wickets in hand, in order to set the visitors a target, disappearedas contributions down the order saw the visitors pull away.Alfonso Thomas took his season’s tally to 455, just 47 short of the recordruns in a season for North West, with his 32, while Andrew Lawson returnedafter a crack on the elbow to add 39 to the 25 he’d made on Thursday. MarkLavine made 26 and number 10 Garth Roe 24 as North West not only tallied animpressive score, but also prevented Easterns getting a fourth bowling bonuspoint.On Saturday, the final will be the furthest thing from Easterns’ minds asthey set out intent on survival.