After a rained out opening day, the players resumed the action with more Time Cricket on Tuesday.

There were also first innings wins for Western Province (WP), Eastern Province (EP), Free State, Boland, Gauteng and Border. While KwaZulu-Natal Coastal (KZN Coastal) and Northerns claimed straightforward victories in their clashes in the longer format.

Rabie kicked things off with the ball, as the off-spinner bamboozled his way through Zimbabwe’s batting order, picking up a stunning six wickets for 23 runs to bowl them out for just 115 after 43.5 overs.

In Free State’s reply with the bat, it was Ludwig Schultz’ turn to shine. The wicket-keeper/batsman reached an unbeaten 75 leading his side to 173/3 and a lead of 58 runs, with Samokelo Lephoto (53) also bringing up his fifty.

That score proved to be enough after Rabie (2/13) returned in the second innings and picked up a further two scalps, limiting the opponents to 40/2 at the end of the day’s play and sealing the tie.

Another unbeaten century, this time from Cormen van der Walt and a five-wicket haul from his teammate, Esa Gangat propelled EP to a convincing 100-run first innings win. Van der Walt smashed eleven boundaries on his way to a 120-ball 85 despite his teammate’s struggles with the bat, as the Cape side were eventually bowled out for 191.

Gangat ensured the batsmen continued to find it tough at the crease, finding the breakthrough at crucial times for his side. The Montessori schoolboy racked up five-wickets for just 20 runs to leave Easterns 87 all out at the end of the day.

There were other impressive performances with the bat in hand during the day. Romashan Pillay top scored with 69 in KZN Coastal’s dominant 112-run victory over Mpumalanga. Jacques Lambrecht’s 86 off 102 balls combined with some superb bowling efforts from his teammates helped Northerns clinch a handsome 105-run triumph over SWD.

In other matches, Boland came out tops against Northern Cape, while Gauteng and Western Province took home the honours in first-inning successes at Willowmoore Park over North West and KwaZulu-Natal Inland, respectively.

Day three of the Week commences on Wednesday and live scores can be viewed on www.websports.co.za.

- Cricket SA