It took team effort to secure a first win of the season for Somerset West Cricket Club (SWCC) in an away First Division B league fixture against Bluebells Cricket Club on Saturday 21 October.
After wining the toss and choosing to bowl in very windy conditions, the club’s bowlers had to work extremely hard to break an opening partnership of 97 runs and got back into the game towards the middle of the innings.
Jason Joseph was the top performing bowler for SWCC as he claimed four wickets for 64 runs in his allotted 10 overs and helped contain Bluebells CC, who ended their innings on 229-7 after 50 overs. It wasn’t the perfect start to the SWCC innings after they lost an early wicket, but Tim Boyd and captain Larry Morkel brought some stability and shared a 74-run partnership before Boyd lost his wicket for 32. Matthew Dickson came to the crease and, with Morkel, shared another partnership of 71 runs. Runs kept on flowing and partnerships were built despite SWCC losing wickets.
It was, however, Morkel’s day, having played a superb knock and carried his bat throughout the innings to get his team over the line scoring 122* off 147 balls. The win for SWCC was much needed, to get their league campaign back on track.
On Sunday (22 October), the AmaT20 Round 2 was hosted by SWCC at the Alan Olsen Oval in Radloff Park.
In the first of their two games SWCC won the toss against Kuils River CC and decided to bat first.
The victory of the previous day seemed to have had a knock-on effect as Boyd single handedly took the Kuils River bowlers apart. He scored 105* off just 48 balls, including eight fours and eight sixes, to help SWCC set a target of 167 in 20 overs.
Kuils River CC were always behind the 8-ball as they needed to score at 11 per over from the first over. Superb bowling from Varun Kalidindi (3/24) restricted Kuils River to 123 runs in their 20 overs to give Somerset West the bonus point win.
At 14:00 SWCC played the defending Ama20 First Division B champions, Edgemead CC. Somerset West again won the toss and batted first. After losing a wicket in the first ball Wiehann Meyer took the attack to the Edgemead bowlers. He blasted 89 runs in 30 balls and in the process hit 7 fours and 9 sixes. He was ably assisted by Boyd (27), Dickson (23) and Paul Castignani (39) to bring SWCC to a total of 218-6 in 20 overs.
Edgemead CC were in trouble early and continued to lose wickets at regular intervals. Towards the latter part of their innings they got into the SWCC bowlers, but it was a case of too little too late as their overs ran out and SWCC won by 38 runs. This Saturday (28 October) SWCC plays Wynberg CC.
It was a weekend to forget for Hottentots-Holland Cricket Club (HHCC), as they were defeated in their league fixture and two AMA20 fixtures.
HHCC faced Northerns Goodwood CC in Goodwood in a First Division A fixture. They won the toss and decided to bat first, but lost wickets at regular intervals and only managed to score 125 all out. Naeem Rhoda (42) and Yaasien Railoun (30) were the only notable contributions.
With ball in hand Guillaume Jansen got HHCC off to a perfect start as he grabbed three early wickets. Consistent pressure from HHCC bowlers saw them take wickets at crucial stages, and Shameel Abels bowled an exceptional spell taking 3-17 in 10 overs. This, however, wasn’t enough as Northerns Goodwood crept home by one wicket.
On Sunday, HHCC faced UCT in an AmaT20 clash. HHCC batted first and scored a defendable 146-9 in 20 overs, Uthmaan Sha (54) and Shakoer Baderoen (21) contributed with the bat. HHCC stayed in the game with the ball, although crucial dropped catches cost them as UCT edged home with a two-wicket victory.
In the second game, HHCC played Brackenfell CC. Brackenfell batted first and scored 148 in their 20 overs. HHCC, however, were never in the game and managed to score only 78 all-out.
HHCC will host UCT at the Naval Sports Grounds in Gordon’s Bay this weekend.
