Nine is the number
When the 2015/2016 Eastern Premier League got down to business on Sunday, October 4 most observers in local cricketing circles might not have had Brakpan’s United Cricket Club penned down as their favourites to be top by the end of the first half of fixtures.
Fast-forward to Sunday, November 29, and the tune of those same onlookers has definitely changed in a big way, as a result of United’s Premier XI hot streak of nine straight wins.
The last three weeks, in particular, have been tough propositions for the team, but they knuckled down and took care of the job at hand.
Over the last three weekends Kempton Park, Benoni Northerns and CBC Old Boys (recurrent league powerhouses) have all wilted against a team that has showed incredible tenacity, concentration, application and teamwork over their nine matches.
On Sunday, at Hoskins Park, skipper Justin Gamble’s charges ensured that the Christmas turkey will taste even better than usual by making light work of CBC Old Boys.
Gamble won the toss and elected to bat first.
Openers Jose van der Berg and Kabelo Sekhukhune set the platform with a 50-run first-wicket stand, before the former was caught off the bowling of Shaun Liebisch for 20 runs.
The wickets of Rian van der Merwe and Eden Links would follow soon thereafter, but the talented Sekhukhune held firm at the crease, playing superb shots during his knock.
He was joined at the wicket by his captain and the pair enjoyed a good partnership of over 70 runs before Sekhukhune was given out LBW with a score of 92 off 98 deliveries (an innings that included 11 fours and a six).
Gamble then took charge of the situation and formed another strong stand with Aidan Justus.
The skipper would eventually be dismissed for 67 runs off 61 balls (nine fours and a six), off the bowling of Willie Bernhardt, but he had done enough as his team saw out the innings and put on a score of 256/8 in their 50 overs.
It was the first class player Eden Links who shone with the ball.
His off-spin accounted for five CBC scalps for 58 runs in 10 overs, including the wickets of the top three, which included talented left-handed opener and Easterns semi-professional Wesley Coulentianos.
Branden Grutter’s 3/31 in five overs were the next best statistics by a United bowler as they wrapped up the Boksburg outfit for 133 runs in 23.5 overs.
This ensured a 123-run and unbeaten start to the season for the Brakpan team.
- Meanwhile, on the club’s B-field, the Promotion League XI enjoyed a brilliant victory of their own over Kempton Park.
All out for 132 in 41.1 overs with the bat, United rallied with the leather to bowl their opponents out for 129 runs in 29.1 overs, to win by a mere eight runs.
- The club’s Directors side also enjoyed a win over CBC Old Boys, by five wickets on the C-field.
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