The heat is on at Vryheid Cricket Club – First fixtures played for 2019

THE first weekend of cricket for 2019 took place on January 12 and 13 and, much like the sweltering heat that engulfed Vryheid over the weekend, it was a scorcher.

Saturday’s match saw the Gladiators face off against the Mondlo side at Cecil Emmett Park in the Zululand T20 Cup for the first round of fixtures after the Christmas break. The Gladiators clinched victory over Mondlo, with their best batting figures coming from A Kruger, who managed to put 51 runs on the board off just 32 balls, and G Hayward, with 32 off 38.

Leading the Gladiators’ bowling attack was T Aitken who, in his 3 overs, took 4 wickets for only 6 runs (3-0-4-6). D Masondo delivered Mondlo’s best batting figures with 13 runs off 7 balls. Mondlo’s S Zulu led their bowling attack, taking 3 wickets for 26 runs in his 4 overs (4-0-3-23).

Gladiators won by 96 runs.

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On a stiflingly hot Sunday, as the unrelenting heat and humidity engulfed Vryheid, the Wicket Wasps side traveled to Dumbe to face their home side in a 35 over match.

Dumbe batted first, scoring 182 runs for the fall of 9 wickets, leaving the Wasps with an impressive tally to chase down.

L Solms top scored for the Dumbe side, with 50 runs off 51 balls before being caught by R Scholtz off the bowling of JG Bevan and J Freyer managed 21 runs off just 18 balls before losing his wicket to a catch by KJ Evert off the bowling of T Zondo, who took a total of 3 wickets for 23 runs in his 7 overs (7-1-23-3). JG Bevan took 4 wickets for the Wasps in his 7 overs, for 40 runs (7-0-40-4).

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Wicket Wasps stepped up to the crease next, with opening batsmen, L Zwane and R Scholtz scoring 24 runs each off 45 and 19 deliveries respectively. Notable scores came from A Brooks, who fell just short of a half century with 43 runs off 26 balls before losing his wicket to the bowling of Dumbe’s RHF Beneke, and A van den Heever, who scored 31 runs off 40 balls for the Wasps before being caught out by RHF Beneke off the bowling of L Solms. Top bowling figures for the Dumbe side came from C Beneke (4-0-16-2), RHF Beneke (7-0-33-3) and L Solms (4-0-31-3).

The match was declared a tie, as Wasps managed to match Dumbe’s score of 182 runs.

Back at home, at Cecil Emmett Park, Mr X went up against Pak CC in a 50 over match in the Zululand 50 Over Cup, winning the toss and electing to bowl first.

With J Botha taking 4 wickets for 27 runs in his 4 overs (4-0-27-4) and J Sander taking 2 wickets for 27 (6-0-27-2), Mr X were able to restrict Pak CC to 148, all out, in just 28 overs. Best batting figures for Pak CC came from M Afzal, who scored 37 off 45, and A Adnan, with 24 runs off 32 balls, not out.

Mr X took to the crease next and managed to level the score within 19.2 overs, with D Grobbelaar scoring a half century off only 35 deliveries before losing his wicket and N Stride’s 25 runs off 22 balls, not out. Bowling figures for the Pak CC side were not available at the time of going to print.

Mr X won by 5 wickets.