TWO Gqeberha cricketers were among the biggest stars at the Cricket South Africa u/16 Boys’ Week which ended in Pretoria this past weekend.
Sulaymaan Gangat (Pearson) was officially named as the biggest star but Connor Parry (Grey) also had a fantastic tournament.
Gangat received the awards as player of the tournament, bowler of the tournament and best all-rounder!
The EP outfit had a great start to their successful week when Parry was named as the Man of the Match in the first two outings.
EP got off the mark with a victory by seven runs (DLS method) over the Lions. There was fine spin bowling by EP, followed by an excellent unbeaten partnership for the fourth wicket.
Captain Rhys Wiblin (3/35) and Gangat (2/44) bowled well to restrict the Lions to 195.
The batting of Parry (41*) and another Grey star Markus Potgieter (21*) took EP to 91/3 to secure victory.
In their next match EP beat the Titans by 22 runs. EP made 192 and bowled the home side out for 170.
Parry batted beautifully to score 80 (90 balls) and was supported by Gangat (34).
Gangat was the most successful bowler, taking 3/30, while James Badenhorst and Wiblin picked up two wickets each.
The trio was again among the wickets when Boland made 225/9 to beat EP, who scored 122, by 103 runs.
Badenhorst and Wiblin took three wickets each and Gangat chipped in with two wickets.
After this loss, the EP boys were keen to deliver the goods against Western Province.
EP was on top of their game, winning by 53 runs (DLS method) after scoring 200 runs and restricting WP to 108/7 before the rain came.
Parry top scored with 67 runs and Gangat took 4/24.
In the last match this past Saturday against the KZN Tuskers, Potgieter was the star with the bat when EP made 209 runs to win by 19 runs.
Potgieter scored 72, with good support from Parry (38) and Gangat (28). The Tuskers were bowled out for 190 with Wiblin (3/32), Jordan Damons (2/29) and Gangat (2/33) the chief destroyers. EP won by 19 runs.
CSA u/16 Girls Week in Johannesburg
The EP bowlers got off to a good start when they restricted the Dolphins to 88 runs in the first match.
Musa Halana (3/8) and Ashlee Buhr (2/12) did most of the damage and gave EP a winning chance.
Unfortunately, the EP batters struggled and could only manage 52 runs. The Dolphins won by 36 runs.
EP hit back in the next match when they beat the Lions by 41 runs.
After scoring 129/9, EP bowled the Lions out for 88.
Buhr top scored with 29 runs and also took two wickets. Bianca Graham (3/8) and Caitlyn Collier (2/3) were the other bowling stars.
Against North West there was solid batting from Graham (24) and Buhr (20) to help EP to 156 runs. The match was abandoned due to lightning with North West on 40/0.
