Riverside Oval in Macassar witnessed a dramatic end to the Western Province Cricket Association (WPCA) Second Division 2024-’25 season on Saturday 22 March when Macassar Cricket Club (MCC) hosted Northpine Cricket Club.
Despite a rain-affected match, MCC’s dominant season culminated in them being crowned league champions and earning promotion to the First Division D for the 2025-’26 season.
The day began with delays as a damp pitch pushed the start time to 13:30. Northpine CC won the toss and elected to field, a decision that initially paid dividends. MCC’s batsmen faced a torrid time against the Northpine opening bowlers, enduring several body blows on the challenging surface.
The first wicket fell in the third over with the score at 15/1, and was quickly followed by another at 33/3 in the seventh over, when Peter Samuels was caught for 9 runs.
Veteran Quinton Bowman and Thomas Kemp then steadied the ship, forging a crucial 63-run partnership for the third wicket. Bowman played a masterful innings, defying the difficult conditions to score a well-crafted 56 runs before being dismissed with the score on 96/3 after 24 overs.
Kemp followed shortly after, caught for a valuable 36 runs, bringing the score to 122/4 after 28 overs. Macassar struggled to maintain momentum and, with another rain interruption, were eventually bowled out for 146 in 35 overs.
In response, MCC’s bowlers came out firing. Celenski van Graan led the charge with a devastating spell of 3/29 in eight overs. He was well supported by Robin Pretorius (1/23), Morten Jantjies (1/16) and Damian Machelm (1/31).
Northpine found themselves struggling on 113/6 after 32 overs when a heavy downpour halted play, with eight overs remaining. The match was subsequently abandoned and Macassar awarded the win due to a superior run-rate to conclude their campaign undefeated, boasting an impressive 22 league victories.
This dominant performance secured their place as the WPCA Second Division champions and earned them a well-deserved promotion.
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