9:10pm A pretty good score (or so it feels at this stage). Head did much of the early running and grew into his own as the middle overs dawned. That was particularly important because Gous largely struggled to find the right rhythm. He finished with 59 but those runs came off 48 balls. There was an important cameo by Ravindra towards the end too, and it was in massive part to his 14-ball 31 that Washington breached the 180-run barrier.

MINY will also be relatively pleased with their effort, given they were staring at a 200-plus total at one point. Skipper Pollard led the way with two very tidy overs towards the end. Shepherd was not shabby either and even though Rashid went for runs, he picked up the crucial scalp of Maxwell. With the firepower they have, they will back themselves to get the job done, even if this will be the highest run-chase at this venue this season. Join us in a bit for the second innings.

Romario Shepherd: I was trying to utilize the bigger side and was trying to get the batters to hit to the bigger side. (On what lengths he wanted to bowl) The yorkers and the change of pace, it is obviously a good wicket. Tried to use the wide line (against Head), tried to keep it away from him and kept him guessing. At one stage, we were looking at 200, so we have pulled it back. It is a good wicket.

And Pollard does that again as Gous starts his shimmy around his crease. Getting a little farcical from Pollard now

Pollard pulls out very late in his run-up. Not a surprise. He has a habit of doing this

Pienaar is the new batter in

Pollard goes around the wicket