Actonville annihilate defending champs
Defending champions are beaten by a Benoni club for the second consecutive Sunday.
Actonville Spurs Cricket Club’s Premier XI achieved a fantastic bonus-point win against Eastern Premier League defending champions Kempton Park, at home, on Sunday, December 7.
Going into their final game at Lords 1, before the season’s halfway point, the visitors won the toss and put Actonville in to bat on a wicket that usually assists seam bowlers early on.
The home team’s opening batsmen played well and did not allow any careless shot-making.
A slow start saw youngster Ahmed Mohammed (35) knuckle down to hold the innings together, before Actonville had a mini collapse and found themselves at 109/6, at the second drinks break.
The pair of senior player Theo Naidoo (33 runs) and the current darling of Actonville Spurs Cricket Club Mekyle Pillay (36 runs) put on a valuable partnership of over 50 runs to guide the team to a score of 211/9 in their allotted 50 overs.
In Actonville’s bowling innings it was their “Captain Fantastic”, Clayton August, who again led the attack by example.
August took the first wicket in the first over and then the second Kempton wicket later in his second spell.
Actonville’s bowlers kept the pressure on the opposition and, when Theo Naidoo entered the attack, the sly bowler used the pitch conditions perfectly.
With his left arm cutters he proceeded to destroy Kempton’s batting line-up.
Together with the help of two other seamers, captain August (2/7), and Hussain Shakeel Ahmed (2/9), Naidoo achieved incredible figures of six wickets for just six runs in 8.2 overs, his best figures in a 50-over game in the Eastern Premier League.
Kempton were blasted out for 54 in 24.2 overs, ensuring a win for Actonville by a massive 157 runs, with the bonus point.
The victory sees Actonville go above the defending champions (who were crushed by 10 wickets against Benoni Northerns last week) into third place, with 23 points on the Premier log standings.
The results of the first half of the season have been credited to strict discipline implemented by Actonville head coach Seun Beya and skipper August.
The discipline factor along with intense training sessions are now beginning to bear fruit.
“We would like to thank all our sponsors, senior and junior players, as well as senior head coach Seun Beya and the club’s junior coaches for this incredible first half of the season at Actonville,” said Zunaid Seedat, club public relations officer.
“Hopefully there will be more good results to come during the second half.
“The club’s junior players took part in a training camp at Lords 1, which included the juniors from Wattville, from December 1 to December 4, with coach Beya, and we believe these kinds of initiatives will be extremely valuable in the development of our young superstars.”
Performances on the field from the junior teams and players have seen the u-14 team remain unbeaten in the first half of the season and, for the first time, Actonville’s junior teams, from u-8 to u-14, have won more than two games, compared to the same stage in seasons past.
The following players have stood out with their performances in the junior setup: Riyaad Khan, Tameez Khan, Zakir Patel, Ahmed Dabeliah, Ahmed Malik, Mohammed Laher, Avik Parbhoo, Mohammed Teladia, Nabeel Teladia, Amaan Khan, Joshua Corin, Yateen Valjee, Raees Khan, Saahil Khan, Mohammed Ghanchi, Jarred Naidoo, Amit Patel and Ebrahim Moola.
The following players from Actonville Spurs Cricket Club will be representing Easterns at Cricket South Africa’s Schools Week: Joshua Corin (u-12), Saahil Khan (u-14) and Mekyle Pillay (u-15).
