Helderberg Cricket Club (HCC) stalwart Gary-Jon Sylvester starred with the willow and led his team to victory in the Division 1C derby duel against Macassar Cricket Club (MCC) on Saturday (5 February).
The first teams of the two local clubs met in a tough encounter at Riverside Oval in Macassar, where hot conditions prevailed from early morning. The visitors batted first, with Sylvester making his intentions known early on.
While wickets tumbled around him, the opening batsman stood his ground and ground it out to take his side to a defendable 169 (all-out) after their allotted 50 overs. Sylvester’s beautiful 89-run innings truly anchored his side’s batting efforts and laid the foundation for better things to come later in the day. He was well supported by Tyrone Abrahams, who played his role perfectly at number 6 and added 33 runs to his team’s tally.
The MCC charges then went into bat and never really took off, as a result of disciplined bowling and agile, structured fielding by the HCC boys.
Both Aidan Salie and Dexter Hindley were in fine form with the leather, troubling the Macassar bowlers and constantly asking questions of them. Their consistency eventually paid-off as they bowled the hosts out for 119 runs in 33 overs and led the HCC side to a hard-fought 50-run victory.
Salie (4/26 in 10 overs) and Hindley (3/31 in 10 overs) were the chief destroyers for the visitors, while Abrahams (2/27) also chipped in during his four-over spell.
This coming weekend, both local clubs’ first team will be in action in league matches at home, with HCC hosting Wynberg CC at Helderzicht Sports Ground and MCC taking on Blue Bells CC at Riverside Oval.
