Northerns hit early hurdle
Benoni Northerns Cricket Club’s (BNCC) successful defence of their Easterns Premier League title has all of a sudden become a whole lot more difficult.
Captain Kurt Francis and his team, who won the league for the first time ever last season, contested their fourth match of the 2013/14 campaign on Sunday, October 27, and were humbled by CBC Old Boys.
Francis, who two days earlier had been named Benoni Northerns Sports Club’s joint Sportsman of the Year, lost the toss and was invited to bat first on a dodgy pitch at the famous old Boksburg school.
The visitors lost (or, in most cases, threw away) their wickets at regular intervals and were rolled for just 82 runs in double-quick time.
If it wasn’t for Benoni’s Easterns amateur star JP Kok, who scored 18, and opener Rhenier Jordaan, who made 15, that total could have been a whole lot worse.
Old Boys then fairly romped to their victory target, although they did lose five wickets in the process, two of them taken by GC Pretorius for the loss of just 10 runs in five overs, to win by five wickets.
On their victory march last season, Northerns lost just one match the whole campaign, at home to then defending champions Kempton Park, and after Sunday’s setback they’ll probably now have to beat their arch-rivals home and away if they are to have any chance of winning the league again.
BNCC coach Thys van Lingen was philosophical after the loss.
“It was one of those tosses that you did not want to lose,” he said.
“The CBC bowlers bowled with discipline and utilised the pitch conditions magnificently, while our bowlers did not apply the same discipline.
“The players need to learn how to overcome conditions with extraordinary playing skills.”
At Northern Areas, on the same day, the toss was also unkind to BNCC’s Promotion League XI skipper Ryan Pfeifer, in a match against Nigel CC.
Sent in to bat, the Benonians fared little better than their Premier League counterparts and were skittled for 119 in the 30th of their allotted 50 overs.
Number three batsman Pfeifer fought basically a lone battle in compiling a fine 36, with a healthy strike rate of 87, which included six boundaries.
Number seven Marlou Moore weighed in with a patient 24, but the rest basically threw away their wickets.
The visitors powered to 122 for two in 32 overs, with number three Charl Goosen top-scoring with 49.
Both Northerns teams will be eager to bounce back this Sunday, November 3, when they take on Brakpan’s United Cricket Club – the Premier XI at home and the Promotions “away” at the neutral venue of St Dunstan’s College in Benoni.
