Title hopes all but diminished
Benoni Northerns Cricket Club’s (BNCC) Premier XI all but surrendered their Easterns Premier League title on Sunday, February 16, when an uncharacteristically lacklustre home performance saw them slump to a demoralising defeat against their nemesis team, CBC Old Boys.
It was only the defending champions’ second defeat of the 2013/14 season, the first taking place against the same opposition,in their fourth match of the campaign, last October 27.
Their latest result hurt the most, however, as it allowed thus-far unbeaten arch rivals Kempton Park to carve out a virtually unassailable lead over Northerns, at the top of the standings, going into the final few games of the season.
On a hot day, on Sunday, Benoni’s all-round team efforts of the past few weeks were sadly missing, as only three players really stepped up to the plate – middle-order batsmen Dean von Ruben, who fell just short of what would have been a deserved century, and Charl Steyn, and bowler GC Pretorius.
The home team’s day didn’t start well, though, as they arrived at Northern Areas to discover that the pitch hadn’t been prepared, apparently because of a council workers’ strike and shuffling their batting order to give some of the younger players a chance higher up also backfired, as, coupled with some shocking umpiring decisions, Benoni found themselves three wickets down with less than 20 runs on the board.
Steyn and Von Ruben then got together and the fireworks began.
The younger partner, Steyn, was rewarded for his patience with a gutsy half-century (55), before falling to a spectacular boundary catch when attempting to smash the bowler straight back over his head.
Von Ruben started slowly but became more and more aggressive as he began to find the middle of the bat, and he milked the Boksburg side’s attack with some spectacular shots – some of the biggest straight sixes seen at the ground in recent years, in fact.
However, the right-hander regularly saw wickets falling around him as the home side were skittled for 213, leaving him stranded on 93 not out.
Despite starving CBC of runs early on, the total proved just too little for the Northerns bowlers to defend and the visitors got there for the loss of six wickets, Pretorius the best bowler, with two for 38 in 10 overs.
“If our bowlers were more disciplined, we could have pulled a win out of the bag at the end when they (CBC) needed a run-a-ball with three overs left,” said dejected Benoni coach Thys van Lingen.
“Dean and Charl batted well to get us to over 200 (but) the fighting spirit of the last few weeks was absent,” he added.
“I take full responsibility, as I have missed some practise sessions due to my business schedule lately.
“My apologies go to the players and supporters, but my boys will stand up again.”
- In Springs, on the same day, BNCC’s Promotion League XI powered to a bonus-point victory over KwaThema, to extend their advantage over Kempton at the top of the table.
Batting first, the visitors compiled a respectable 257 all out in 46 overs, stand-in captain Rian van der Merwe top-scoring with 42.
Northerns then knocked KwaThema over for 176.
- Meanwhile, seven BNCC players were on Sunday presented with their special personalised caps by club chairman Gavin Rademeyer for having played 10 or more matches for the Premier XI.
They are: JP Kok (permanent number 36), Shawn Wessels (37), Lee Cothill (38), GC Pretorius (39), Rhenier Jordaan (40), Stefano di Bartolomeo (41) and Ernest Kemm (42).
- This Sunday (February 23), skipper Kurt Francis takes his Premier side to Brakpan, to face United, while the Promotion team host CBCOB.
