United lose one, win one
The Eastern Cricket Union’s new club T20 competition got underway this weekend with the first two pool matches played on Sunday, January 22.
In most tournaments there is always a notorious “Group of Death”, as was the case for Brakpan’s United Cricket Club Premier XI who were drawn in an extremely difficult pool against Alberton, Boksburg and Kempton Park’s Promotion XI.
The matches were played at the Lindeque Oval and Alberton High School.
In their first T20 against Alberton, on Sunday, United (led by stand-in skipper Jose van der Berg) were put in to bat by the opposing captain.
Branden Grutter (29 runs) and Peter Trewick (26 runs) were the top-scorers for United as they were bowled out for 120.
Alberton managed to chase down the 121-run target in 19.2 overs.
Despite the loss, Van den Berg thanked their opponents for “a good fight”.
In the next match, United faced Boksburg.
Batting first, the team from Hosking Park posted 146 runs, thanks mainly to an excellent 54 runs from 43 deliveries from Rian van der Merwe.
Opener Vaughn Humphrey was next best with 31 runs from 21 balls.
Needing 16 runs to win from the last over, United restricted their opponents to just 10 runs to get the all important victory.
They will play Kempton Park’s Promotion team on Saturday, January 28, with nothing but a win needed to advance to Sunday’s (January 29) quarter finals.
Meanwhile, the club’s Promotion League side defeated Duduza and lost to Benoni Northerns’ Premier XI in Pool B on Sunday.
They will play Actonville Spurs in what could be a second-place decider on Saturday, at Benoni Northerns.
Northerns top Group B after two wins.
