Gareth Berg fought a good fight, but it was not enough as Hampshire went down by nine wickets to Somerset in the English County Championship on Tuesday.
The former Western Province player stood like Horatius on the bridge after Hampshire had been ‘invited’ to follow on, hammering a magnificent 86 off 104 balls with 13 fours and a six.
It was too much to ask, although Hampshire at least got Somerset to bat again.
Berg came to the bridge when Hampshire were 144-6, and put on 61 with Danny Briggs, who contributed 15. There was no support after that. Somerset needed 64, to which Johann Myburgh added six.
In Hampshire’s first innings, Berg top-scored with 38 in another rear-guard action, and took 4-64 with his brisk seamers.
Born in Cape Town 34 years ago, the former SACS pupil played a few games for WP B. He left to seek his fortune early, making a huge impact with Middlesex. He scored 4,000 runs and took 221 wickets before shoulder surgery ruled him out for the majority of the 2014 season, causing Middlesex to release him at the end of the 2014 season.
His other claim to fame is that he is an Italian international (through his mother) making appearances for Italy in World T20 qualifiers in 2012 and 2013.
Elsewhere, Dean Elgar did not make as much an impact as he would have liked in Surrey’s second innings, being bowled for 19 after a fine fighting 44 in the first. Not that it mattered much. Surrey ended with 315, offering Wayne Madsen‘s Derbyshire a target of 348 to win. They were bowled out for just 125.
Glamorgan captain Jacques Rudolph is at the crease with Colin Ingram in a fascinating fight with Leicestershire.
His bowlers did the job in dismissing Leicestershire for 253, with Craig Meschede taking 2-45, gaining a lead of 25 . But Glamorgan then lost two with one run on the board, which brought Ingram to the crease. He is on 38 off 57 balls, while Rudolph is more cautious on 14 off 66.
In the Caribbean T20 league, Robin Petersen took Man of the Match figures of 3-26 to help the Barbados Tridents beat Jamaica Tallawahs by 16 runs. He took 3-31 against Guyana in the first match of the series on Saturday.
Compiled by Mark Salter
