Grutter fifer seals close match

Skipper Justin Gamble lost the toss and United was put in in to bat by opposite number Israel Hlengani.

While a number of top-order wickets tumbled around him, opener Ryan Bond stood firm and played an excellent innings that saw him reach his half-century.

He was dismissed for 51 runs.

The next best batsman for the Hosking Park team was Reinhardt Weidemann, who scored 22.

The Tembisa bowlers did well to dismiss the home side for a relatively low score of 155 runs in 44.1 overs.

Enoch Makamo was their best player with the leather and picked up figures of 3/37 in 9.1 overs.

Defending the target was never going to be easy for coach Frans Bezuidenhout’s team, but after claiming the wickets of Tembisa’s top batsmen, Makamo (19) and Hlengani (35), United were in with a sniff.

Branden Grutter was brought in to bowl and the move proved to be a decisive one, as the spinner claimed a five-wicket haul in 4.2 overs, for just nine runs.

This spell was the catalyst for a Tembisa batting collapse that saw them all out for 153 runs in the 43rd over, two runs short of the United score.

Des Gamble, team manager, said it was a match that the team should not have won.

“We put on a score of 155 runs, which is not enough in Premier League cricket, and it is something that we have been doing all season,” he added.

“We got their top batsmen out quite cheaply and put in some good work in the field,

“When Branden came into bowl he managed to snatch five wickets and that changed the game when all appeared to be going wrong.”

The team manager praised Ryan Bond for a solid innings with the bat.

“It is nice for him to get some runs, as he has had some bad luck in the last six months,” he said.

He added that the win does, however, give the team some momentum going forward, as they prepare to host Boksburg Cricket Club at home, on Sunday, February 2.