Worcester United II played host to Robertson II at Boland Park, Worcester on Saturday 8 January in a match of 50 overs a side.
Robertson II won the toss and sent in United II to bat first. United II’s innings started disastrously when they lost their first wicket of the third ball of the first over when Lawrence Bailey was castled for one run off a foolish Yorker length delivery. The other twin, Lorenzo Bailey steadied the ship and laid a good foundation with JP Swarts who scored 20 runs off 44 balls with 4×4. Bailey perished after a well played 64 runs off 121 balls with 4×4 and 1×6. Nanto Amsterdam and especially Colenso Louw entertained the small crowd with some good hard hitting batting. Amsterdam played beautifully for a promising 34 of 41 balls with 5×4. Louw ended up unbeaten with the highest score of 70 runs off only 42 balls which included 3×4 and 6×6. United II reached 239/6 in their 50 overs. Peter van Berg was the best bowler for Robertson II with a return of 3/37 off 9 overs. Robertson II in chasing 240 to win lost their first two wickets for only 27 runs. Elvin Matthys rebuilt their innings with a solid 49 runs off 138 balls with 2×4. Alton Sauls weighed in with a good 27 off 42 balls with 1×4 which was in vain as Robertson II was bowled out off the last ball of their 50 overs for 178 runs. JP Swarts (2/29 of 8 overs, Charlton Haas 2/16 of 4 overs, Curtly Verwey 2/20 of 6 overs and Xander Booysen 2/37 of 10 overs) shared the wickets among them. United II won with 61 runs.
Worcester United I travelled to Robertson to take on Robertson I at their home pitch at the Callie de Wet sports grounds. Robertson I won the toss and elected to bat first but were soon in a spot of bother with their score on 39/5. Robertson I never recovered from this early disaster and were eventually all bowled out for a disappointing 89 runs.
The destroyers-in-chief for Worcester United I were Marshin Jephta with 3/20 off 10 overs, captain Adrian du Toit with 3/12 off 6 overs and Björn Cochrane with 2/14 off 9.5 overs. Aubrey Philander top scored for Robertson I with 33 runs off 62 balls with 1×4.
United I lost their first wicket with the score on 24 when captain Adrian Du Toit was trapped leg before wicket for 10 runs off 30 balls with no boundaries. Byron Buys with 36 runs off 72 balls with 2×4 and 1×6 and Javier Erasmus with 22 off 46 balls with 1×6 secured another United I victory.
United reached the winning margin in the 28th over and ended up with 91/3 and thus won by 7 wickets.
Worcester United I will play host to Paarl I on Saturday 15 January.
