NWU Pukke’s defence of their CSA National Club Championship title got off to the best start possible with resounding wins over Maties, Kovsies and the Hollywoodbets Crusaders respectively in Pretoria this week.

It was especially Janneman Malan’s destructive century (111 from 117 balls) against Kovsies, the first of the tournament, that gave Pukke the necessary momentum. Malan has been in good form of late for the North West Dragons and he has transferred this to the Pukke setup as well.

Together with opening partner Hanco Olivier 97 (142), they put on a brilliant 177-run stand with Olivier playing the anchor role. This gave Malan the opportunity to play his natural game and he gave much deserved credit to his opening partner.

“Me and Hanco put on a great partnership and this helped me with my batting as there was a solid base to up the run rate. The early stages were tricky, but once we got our eye in, we could bat at a better run rate,” said Malan.

Pukke won the match against Kovsies by 88 runs, which is thus far their biggest win of the week. Pukke scrapped through with a 3 wicket win against Maties where Jovuan van Wyngaardt was the star bowler picking up 4-23 in 8 overs. Pukke followed up their win against Kovsies with a close 2 wicket win against the Hollywoodbets Crusaders yesterday. Marques Ackerman’s 70 (72) and Lesego Senokwane’s 52 (85) helped steady the ship after they were in trouble at 35/4 in pursuit of 226 runs for victory.

Pukke still have matches against hosts UP-Tuks (today) and Fort Hare (Thursday), before the business end of the competition starts.  Both Pukke and Tuks are unbeaten thus far and this will surely be a titanic clash at the TUT Oval.