ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2018

awarded 6 points for a draw and 16 for a win. The previous allowances were 0 and 10, meaning that, in relative terms, the draw became a more valuable outcome and doubtless captains and groundsmen adjusted their approach accordingly. The Series was played in two blocks of fifteen matches each, and in the first of these, in September and October, only a single match produced a definite result. The remaining matches, played in February and March, produced a slightly healthier proportion of six results out of fifteen, but still the majority of games were drawn. The preponderance of draws meant that what ought to be the most important and prestigious domestic competition was left as something of a lottery. The Series winners, Titans, could point to only two victories against one defeat in their ten matches: hardly championship form. Warriors achieved an identical return, in terms of match results, by were edged into second place on bonus points; they did, however, have the satisfaction of beating the eventual champions. The second-string competition, the Sunfoil Three-Day Cup, notwithstanding continued reservations about its first-class status, at least produced a more enterprising approach than its senior counterpart. The Pool A winners, KwaZulu Natal, won six of their ten matches but even so were pressed hard by Western Province. Namibia, meanwhile, shook off their poor record in recent seasons to lead Pool B comfortably; but in the final went down to a crushing innings defeat with two of the four days to spare. The season’s batting aggregates were headed, not surprisingly, by Aiden Markram, who was in fine form for Titans (when available) as well as for South Africa. In all first-class matches he struck 1439 at 65.40, narrowly ahead of his Test and franchise opening partner Dean Elgar with 1425 at 61.95. Zubayr Hamza and Pieter Malan, both of Western Province and Cape Cobras, followed with 1203 and 1114 respectively, while the 1046 hit by Pieter’s brother Janneman Malan, all for North West in the Three-Day Cup, made him the only other player with 1000 first-class runs. Kagiso Rabada was the most prolific wicket-taker. His total of 56 all came in Tests; he played only one other first-class game, in which he went wicketless, so his overall average was 18.80. Slow left-armer Senuran Muthusamy, 54 at 23.11, was the only other bowler with fifty. Special reference should be made of the performance of Marco Marais of Border, whose 300* against Eastern Province in November represented an extraordinary exhibition of sustained rapid scoring. He reached his triple century off only 191 deliveries, eclipsing Charlie Macartney’s famous display for the Australians against Nottinghamshire in 1921, when the 300 is believed (based on Charles Davis’s reconstruction) to have required 221 balls. Marais completely dominated an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 428 with Bradley Williams, whose total of 113 off 174 deliveries would ordinarily be considered an entirely acceptable rate of scoring. The scorecards of Namibia’s home matches in the Three-Day competition can be found in the Rest of the World section. The other 13 provincial teams go to make up the franchises for the Sunfoil Series as follows: Cape Cobras = Western Province and Boland; Dolphins = KwaZulu-Natal and KwaZulu-Natal Inland; Knights (formerly Eagles) = Free State and Northern Cape (formerly Griqualand West); Lions = Gauteng and North West; Titans = Northern and Easterns; and Warriors = Eastern Province, Border, and South Western Districts). (JCB) 354 South Africa in 2017/18