The first team of Macassar Cricket Club (MCC) got their season off to a good start, as they recorded three victories from three outings last weekend.
Playing in WP First Division D this season, the local lads locked horns with Sherwood Manenberg CC on Saturday (15 October) as well as Peninsula CC and Nyanga CC in Western Province AMA20 matches on Sunday (16 October).
In the first match of the weekend, MCC captain Chad Bailey lost the toss and his troops were sent in to bat, which seemed to the right decision by the opposing skipper, as the opening pair of Quinton Bowman and Brandon Williams found it difficult to read the pitch and lost their wickets cheaply.
However, the fall of the wicket brought to the crease veteran batsman Thomas Kemp, (48*) who steadied the ship and strung together a run-a-ball innings. But he was the only Seagulls’ batsman to reach double figures as they managed to amass a mere 91/7 in their 20 overs.
This presented the opportunity for the MCC bowlers to step up and defend the low total, which they did with much success as they bowled the batting team out for 83 runs to take their team to an eigh-wicket victory. Robin Pretorius (3/17) led the pack as he ripped through the Sherwood-Manenberg top order. He was well supported by fellow speedster Aiden Salie, who applied the pressure from the other side, while Cyril Daniels delivered an ecomonic four-over spell with 1/13.
In their match against Peninsula CC on Sunday, Bailey won the toss and elected to field in overcast conditions, with the opening bowlers Pretorius and Salie troubling the batters, keeping the run rate low, building pressure.
Bailey (3/10) brought himself into the attack in the last over of the power-play and got the breakthrough. Spinner Morten Jantjies then joined his captain and bowled in tandem to build further pressure, with Bailey claiming two more scalps.
David Sebastian (1/13) and Steven Levendal (2/12) were also on song with the leather, while excellent fielding from the entire MCC team led to Peninsula CC being bowled out for 102 runs.
The Seagulls’ batsmen carried over that confidence into their innings, as openers Bowman (24) and Sebastian (26) used their left- and right-hand combination to dominate and get their team off to a flying start.
The boundaries came with ease and the opening pair took their team to 50/0 in the eighth over before Sebastian was caught on the boundary. Bowman joined his partner just two balls later, when he was trapped LBW.
Macassar needed 51 runs in 12 overs with eight wickets in-hand – am easy equation some would say. But the batting line-up collapsed and the finish was a cliffhanger, as the local team eventually got over the line to win by three wickets.
After the nail-biting encounter, MCC had to shift their focus to their match against Nyanga CC, which started with Bailey losing the toss and his side being asked to bat.
Bowman (20) and Sebastian against opened the batting, but they couldn’t emulate their previous start as the latter lost his wicket cheaply. This brought the young talented Williams (21) to the crease, who clicked with Bowman to put on a good partnership.
The MCC innings continued to grow, but they also lost wickets at regular intervals, ending on 137/8 after 20 overs. Celenschi van Graan (26) and Bailey (22) were the top scorers.
In their innings, Nyanga CC were forced to deal with persistant accurate and economical bowling by MCC, with Pretorius (2/18), Bailey (2/8) and Jantjies (2/15) dominating along with Salie, who finished with figures of 1/14 in four overs. Both Bowman and Kemp claimed blinders to worsen the situation for Nyanga, who eventually slumped to 83 (all out).
This weekend (Sunday 23 October), the Seagulls will be in action in their final Ama20 group match against Bergvliet CC in Retreat, with the local team already having secured their Ama20 semi-final spot.
