Worcester United II hosted Wellington II on Saturday 22 January at Boland Park, Worcester in a 50 overs match.
The match was played in extreme heat and humidity. Worcester United II won the toss and elected to field, which was expected considering the temperatures were predicted to rise later in the day. Wellington II started off poorly and lost their first two wickets for only three runs. Wellington soon found themselves at 38/3 after 11 overs. United II bowlers kept on making inroads into the Wellington II middle order and had them with the backs against the wall at 78/6.
Wellington II batsmen finally succumbed to the United II bowlers and they were all bowled out for a mere 102 runs. Gert Basson was the top performer for Wellington with 42 runs and hit 2×4. He was ably assisted by Corné Brand with 26 runs that included 1×6 and 1×4. The best bowlers for United II were 16-year-old Xander Booysen with a bowling return of 4/24 of 7 overs and JP Swartz with 2/15 of 4.3 overs. United II had to score 103 runs to win and found this easy to get and reached the winning margin in the 18th over. United II won by 7 wickets. Warren Davids was in scintillating form and top-scored with 38 runs that included 4×4.
United I took on Wellington I in Wellington where the temperatures were expected to rise to 46°. United I won the toss and elected to bat first. United I had a shaky start with their score at 39/2 after 15 overs. A major batting collapse followed and soon United was found wanting at 78/6 after 25 overs. At 92/9 United was down and out but to the rescue again came Mario Marinus. Marinus and Björn Cochrane frustrated the Wellington bowlers and put on a match winning partnership of 64 runs for the last wicket. Marinus top scored with 61 runs of 66 balls that included 4×4 and 4×6. Cochrane scored 5 runs, not out, but his stay at the wicket was crucial to assist Marinus to reach his half-century and for United to post 155 on the board.
The destroyers-in-chief for Wellington were Byron Fortuin with 2/23 of eight overs and Ruche du Plooy with 3/47 also of eight overs. Wellington I only needed 156 to win off 50. Wellington, despite losing their first two wickets with their score of 52 runs, steadied the ship before losing their third wicket with their score of 71 runs after 21 overs. United I spinners started to make inroads into the batting line-up of Wellington I and soon had them reeling on 111/7. It seemed this one would go down to the wire, but Wellington I could not stand the heat against the magical spin attack of Worcester United I, and were all bowled out for 129 runs, 27 runs short of the required target. The best bowlers for United were Cochrane with 2/35 of 10 overs, AD du Toit with 2/18 of 10 overs, Brendan Erasmus with 2/36 of eight overs, and Marshwin Japhta with 2/21 of 10 overs.
The batsmen for Wellington who scored runs were Tiaan Cloete, who weighed in with 23 runs off 30 balls, which included 3×4 and 1×6, and Junaid Cassiem with 25 runs off 47 with 2×4.
The final game of the weekend was between United I, the host, and Piketberg I at Boland Park, Worcester on Sunday 23 January.
The Breede Valley was hit by a severe electrical storm on Saturday afternoon, which resulted in heavy downpours and flooding.
This also affected the pitch at Boland Park, which was wet in some patches. The ground staff of the Breede Valley Municipality worked tirelessly on Saturday evening and on Sunday morning to get the pitch ready for play. The playing rules dictate that the umpires make a final decision at 14:20 to decide whether any play will be possible. At 13:30 the umpires inspected the pitch and found it in a good enough condition to play and made the call that play will start at 14:00. The match was scheduled as a 50-over game, but due to time lost was reduced to 24 overs a side.
Piketberg I won the toss and sent in United I to bat first. United I was in big trouble at 7/2. Captain AD du Toit steadied the ship with Brendan Erasmus until Du Toit lost his wicket with a score of 46. Erasmus departed soon after, and soon United I was struggling at 75/5 after 16 overs. Stalwarts Hadley Alberts and Geraldo Cremon came together and showed their class and experience. They put on an entertaining partnership of 81 runs off 62 balls. Cremon especially was severe on anything short or loose and scored an unbeaten 57 off only 44 balls, which included 2×4 and 3×6. Alberts weighed in with 30 runs off 42 balls and played the anchor role. He hit 1×4 and 1×6.
United I put on a very defendable score of 149 runs. The best bowlers for Piketberg I were Wayne Fortuin with figures of 3/17 of 5 overs and Gertram Brink with 2/31 of his allotted 5 overs. This left Piketberg I to score 150 runs off 24 overs. Piketberg was very soon in serious trouble at 20/4 and eventually surrendered and were bowled all out for a shameful 35 runs. None of the Piketsberg batsmen had any answers to the brilliant spin attack of Worcester United I. United I won with 114 runs and became log leaders albeit with one more game played. The best performers for the ball for United I was Christo Lukas with 3/5 of 2 overs, Captain AD du Toit with 2/5 of 3 overs, Björn Cochrane with 2/8 of 5 overs, and Marshwin Japhta with 2/14 of 4 overs.
United I will be having a bye this coming weekend while the second team will pay a visit to Piketberg II.
