Boland Blind Cricket (BBC) and Western Province Blind Cricket Association (WPBCA) faced off in the first round of the inaugural Blind Cricket South Africa (BCSA) one day cup (40 over) tournament at Esselen Park, Worcester on Sunday 12 February.
In the extreme Worcester heat of 35 °C BBC captain Riaan Serfontein (B1) won the toss and elected to bowl first. WPBCA openers Darren Ehlers (B3) and Asher Hattingh (B2) got their side off to a good start as they reached 51 from 7.3 overs. That is when the wickets started to fall with Hattingh (17) being bowled by Johan Heyns (B1). This was soon followed by the second man to leave the crease, when Sergil January (B1) was trapped LBW for zero, at the hand of by Edrich ter Haar (B1).
Sonwabile Makazi (B3) helped steady the innings with Ehlers as they put on a partnership of 68 for the third wicket. Ehlers was eventually run out for 57 with his team on 124 for 3 after 22.2 overs. The rest of WPBCA batting didn’t offer much as BBC bowlers restricted WPBCA to 203 for 6 from the allotted 40 overs.
Needing to chase down 204 would have seemed like a tricky score, especially as BBC were missing three of their best batters in Shepherd Mangxaba (B3), Fredrik Boer (B2) and Reme Kampher (B2).
However, BBC openers Jevon Marks (B3) and Roberto Harmse (B2) raced to 91 from 13 overs, when Jevon Marks 49 was trapped LBW by John Van Schalkwyck (B1) one run shy of his half-century. Roberto Harmse (36) soon followed his opening partner with the team on 104 for 2 from 15.1 overs as he was also dismissed by John Van Schalkwyck (bowled). Johan Heyns had to retire hurt on 4. Reilly Meyer (B3) 30 runs not out combined well with Demitri Keyna’s (B2) 23 runs bowled by Asher Hattingh taking the team total to 147 from 22.2 overs. Edrich Ter haar (B1) could only manage 2 rugs as he was bowled by Esra Bali. Ralton Pienaar (B3) 19 not out joined Reilly Meyer at the crease, as they took their team to a comfortable 6 wicket victory, with 10 overs still remaining.
This victory puts BBC in an excellent position to qualify for the final leg of the BCSA One-day Cup tournament, scheduled for April, likely in Gauteng.
