IT was a close call and took a lot of hard work, but Eastern Province will remain in the Platinum Division of the annual u/19 Khaya Majola Cricket Week.
After losing four matches in a row last month at the week in Cape Town, the EP boys were looking to be relegated to the Gold Division.
They defended their status in their fifth and final match of the week against the Garden Route Badgers and won by 22 runs.
EP scored 139 runs with good contributions from Kiam Cambier (50), Esa Gangat (32) and Cayden Wilson (21).
Wilson’s job wasn’t finished, and he played a huge role with the ball to secure the EP victory.
He took 4/17, with Likhona Gcora and Hamza Khan chipping in with two wickets each to bowl the Badgers out for 117.
Wilson was named as the Player of the Match and was picked for the Colts squad at the conclusion of the tournament.
The Colts beat the South African Schools’ side by 25 runs in a match played at the famous Newlands Ground.
In the matches they lost, EP could have won one or two with a little bit of luck. In their first match, EP fought really hard and nearly got the better of the Dolphins.
Batting first, EP made 107 runs with Xander Elkington top scoring with 50. The Dolphins had to work to get over the line, reaching 108/8, to win by two wickets. Gangat (3/18) and Wilson (3/25) bowled beautifully for EP.
The second match was another tough affair against the Titans. At one stage EP looked like the winner but the Titans hung on to win by 34 runs.
Wilson, Dawid Vermaak and Cambier took two wickets each, with the Titans scoring 235/9 runs. EP replied with 201.
Elkington (54) scored another 50 and was well supported by Khan (36) and Cambier (29).
Boland won by six wickets after EP could only manage 115 runs.
Elkington was EP’s leading run maker for the third time in a row. He scored 31, with the best support coming from Cambier (29). Gangat (3/21) troubled the batters with excellent spin bowling but Boland still managed to reach 117/4 without too much trouble.
In a low-scoring match, the Tuskers beat EP by 12 runs. Wilson (4/15) and Jadwyn Cona (3/25) were the chief wicket takers in the Tuskers’ innings of 79 runs. The EP batters were in with a winning chance but struggled against some good spin bowling. They just missed out on getting their team over the line.
EP were bowled out for 67 runs. Wilson (18) and Cambier (16) scored the bulk of the runs.
Cricket South Africa’s annual Cubs Week ended in Stellenbosch yesterday.
Most of the EP stars were in the Eastern Warriors squad. We will review their performance in this tournament in next week’s edition.
