Poor batting display saved by wet weather
“We will need to be more disciplined with the bat when we play Benoni Northerns this Sunday if we want to win there.”
United Cricket Club’s Premier XI were perhaps a little bit lucky that rain forced the sharing of points in their Eastern Premier League away fixture against Alberton at the Lindeque Oval on Sunday, February 5.
Before the rain came down though, skipper Justin Gamble won the toss and elected to bowl first in the match.
His decision was a good one as his bowlers rallied with the leather to bowl their Alberton opponents all out for 148 in 47.2 overs.
All-rounder and Italian international JP Meade was sublime with the cherry in hand.
His impressive figures of 4/18 in 10 overs made him the outstanding bowler for the Brakpan-based side.
Spinner Branden Grutter bagged 2/37 in his 10 overs while fast bowler Kevin Hinton (making his 50th appearance in the Premier XI), Peter Trewick, captain Gamble and Aidan Justus each picked up a stick.
Alberton’s Cameron Fryer was his team’s top-scorer with 29 runs not out.
When United’s batsmen took to the crease to chase down the opposition’s score they quickly found themselves in a serious spot of bother with their top six all dismissed with just 46 runs on the score-board.
Jacques Korster, Alberton’s opening bowler, was the chief destroyer with 4/20 in six overs.
Number seven Grutter and number eight Dylan Rayner got the team to 57/6 in 15.1 overs before the rain came down to force play to come to an abrupt end with the Alberton bowlers’ tails up and the United batting order in disarray.
Points (two each) were therefore shared between the two sides (according to the Eastern Cricket Union’s playing regulation 16.3 which states that “a minimum of 20 overs per team will be necessary for a result to be obtained unless a team is bowled out in fewer than 20 overs or a team reaches its target in less than 20 overs”).
Not to say that United would not have surpassed the Alberton score with just four wickets in hand, but it would have been a tremendous effort from the remaining batsmen.
Gamble said his team’s bowling effort was the best they had bowled as a unit in the 2016/2017 season.
“We struggled with the bat and soft dismissals again left us in trouble until the rain came,” added the skipper.
“We will need to be more disciplined with the bat when we play Benoni Northerns this Sunday if we want to win there.”
That match takes place in Benoni with the first delivery expected to be bowled at 10am.
