Aust. pays high price

Press, 15 January 1986, Page 9

Aust. pays high price

NZPA-AAP Pretoria The Australian rebel cricketers paid a high price for a last gasp win over Northern Transvaal in Pretoria yesterday. The paceman, Rod McCurdy, strained a hamstring in his left leg and will almost certainly miss the series-deciding third “international” against the Springboks, starting in Johannesburg tomorrow. Kim Hughes declared the Australian second innings at 326/2 before play resumed this morning after a rest day. That left Northern Transvaal needing 366 in five and a half hours plus 20 overs. Their prospects seemed impossibly remote after they lost two wickets with only four runs on the board. The hapless opener, Vernon du Preez, fell for another duck, lbw to the paceman, Rodney Hogg, off only the third ball of the innings after being dismissed first ball in the first. The Traansvaalers were not about to capitulate as they did on the first day, however when their first six wickets crashed for 28 runs. This time the skipper, Le Barnard, rallied the middle order with a fighting 34. The next five batsmen all made 30 or more, including a stylish 85 by the Glamorgan captain, Rodney Ontong, who would be playing for the Springboks this week ’ but for a contractual problem involving the Test and County Cricket Board. I Oolong’s was the last wicket to fall — he was run out with just 5.4 overs remaining.