Spurs fall six runs short

United’s skipper, Justin Gamble, won the toss and elected to bat on a bowler friendly, low-slow wicket at Hosking Park.

The home side lost wickets at regular intervals and were bowled out for 142, with Gamble the top scorer for his side with 44, while Zander Els chipped in with 26 runs.

Hussain Shakeel Ahmed was the stand-out bowler for Actonville with figures of 3/21, while Theo Naidoo (2/16) and Charl Prinsloo (2/40) restricted the United team to a total that appeared achievable for the Spurs batsmen.

The excellent display with the ball was, however, undermined by the team’s misfortunes in the outfield as the “Jekyll and Hyde” curse continues to plague them with misfields and dropped catches costing them dearly.

When the visitors came into bat, they lost two wickets before the lunch break while another wicket fell soon after.

It was then that Charl Prinsloo and Ahmed Mohammed (24) put on a decent stand.

The inevitable batting collapse came back to haunt the team though, as they were six wickets down for very little runs.

Wahab Mehmood (16) and Theo Naidoo (13) began a fight back of sorts and almost clawed victory for the club until three wickets fell for nothing and Actonville suffered defeat by just six runs.

United’s top bowlers were JP Meade (3/20), Oswaldo De Sousa (3/16) and David Zweni (2/15).

With a second defeat in as many weeks, Actonville needs to find another gear if they are to make up ground on the teams above them in the Premier League.

Some of the club’s provincial players will be back this coming weekend for the “Benoni Derby” against Benoni Northerns at Lords One and, according to club publc relations officer Zunaid Seedat, the habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory needs to be nipped in the bud straight away.

“The club fully expects a response from the players for this clash,” he said.

“Beware the wounded animal as the age old cliché goes.”

The Benoni cricket derby is scheduled to get underway at 9.30am