It wasn’t to be two on the trot for Benoni Northerns Cricket Club as they succumbed to the University of Johannesburg (UJ) at the Momentum National Club Championships in Pretoria on Thursday, April 23.
After losing the toss Kurt Francis and his team were asked to field first at Laudium Cricket Oval.
A consistent display with the willow from UJ and an excellent knock of 110 runs off 119 deliveries by number three UJ batsman Umar Asad helped guide the team to a score of 229/6 in their 50 over first innings.
Spinner Ernest Kemm was the pick of the Northerns bowlers with figures of 3/40 in 10 overs.
Batting proved difficult in the second innings and a slow outfield and flat wicket made it difficult for BNCC to get value for shots.
The top order that was so successful yesterday in Irene couldn’t make it a repeat performance as wickets fell far too regularly for coach Thys van Lingen’s liking.
UJ spinner Harry van Straaten was the catalyst with the ball for his team and his 5/45 helped set up the win.
Big-hitting batsman Mark Robey offered some sort of resistance with the bat as he blasted 47 runs off 35 balls (including four huge maximums), but that was not to enough as the Benoni outfit were all out for 116 in 26.5 overs to give the bonus-point win to their opponents.
The team will face Crusaders tomorrow in Sinoville and will need a major effort if they are to stay in the running for Monday’s final.
