THE cricket girls of the Eastern Province are becoming a major force in South African Schools Cricket.
The U/19 Girls won three out of four matches in the Cricket South Africa Week in Bloemfontein and the U/16 Girls also caught the eye, with some big victories in East London.
It was very nearly four out of four for the U/19s who beat KwaZulu-Natal Inland by 48 runs, KZN Coastal by 61, and got the better of Limpopo by a slender three runs in a real thriller.
They fought hard in the match against Gau-teng, and needed just a bit of luck to have also won this one which Gauteng won by just three wickets.
Megan Fourie (DF Malherbe) was one of the stars for EP, performing regularly with both the bat and ball.
Jordan Cole (Pearson) bowled consistently well and Lana von Hagen (Woodridge) was another all-rounder producing some fine performances. Her 3–7 was a match-winning bowling performance against Limpopo.
In that same match, Luna Gana (Molly Blackburn), batted beautifully in an unbeaten knock of 30 runs.
After the tournament, Fourie and Cole were picked for the SA Schools’ Side and Gana was included in the squad of the SA Fillies.
The U/16s were impressive in beating Mpumalanga by eight wickets and South Western Districts by 48 runs.
Danell Botha was a star with the ball, taking 3–10 against KZN Coastal and 4–5 against Mpumalanga. Sinazo Mjaca (4–2) also bowled well against Mpumalanga.
Danika Marais (4–7), Olwethu Kwedini (3–5) and Zandile Mkele 3–3) destroyed Limpopo.
The U/19 Boys had mixed success at the Khaya Majola Week in Stellenbosch.
EP lost the first match by seven wickets against North West where Russell Petersen batted very well for his 49 runs.
There was bad luck in the second match, where EP started the game impressively with the opening batsmen, Zac Micklewright (65*) and Ashley Ostling (54*), sharing an unbeaten 126 before play was abandoned due to rain.
Free State was too good in the third match and beat EP by 102 runs.
In the final match EP put up a good fight and got the better of Garden Route Badgers by 20 runs.
Casey Keevy scored 51 runs after also doing well with 38 against Free State. Lisa Numba and Aphiwe Mnyanda were the bowling heroes in the match victory.
It was a huge setback that the U/16 Boys could only play one match in the week held in Johannesburg.
All the other matches were washed out on account of the bad weather, but the EP Boys were impressive when they did get a chance to take the field.
They beat the hosts, the Lions, by six wickets. The Lions were bowled out after just 137 runs with Sipho Potsane (3–39) being instrumental in the hosts’ downfall.
EP had no problem in reaching the winning target for this match with Jordan Strydom leading the way with an unbeaten 51.
