Tuks beat UJ to become Varsity Cricket champions again
The formidable Tuks cricket team claimed their fourth Varsity Cricket title in five years when they beat the University of Johannesburg in the final of this tournament.
Tuks are once again the Varsity Cricket champions after a comprehensive eight-wicket Duckworth Lewis win in a reduced-over final against UJ at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom on Saturday night.
The Pretorians chased down the 60 runs required with 14 balls to spare, as their class and temperament shone through in the end.
With this victory the formidable Tuks team claimed their fourth title in five years.
A frustrating floodlight failure delayed the match for two hours, before play resumed at 21:00 with the match shortened to eight overs a side.
Earlier UJ won the toss and selected to bat first but lost the wicket of the dangerous Richards for four off the second ball, as the blond paceman, Ruben Trumplemann, dismissed him caught behind.
Trumplemann struck again in the first over as he got the wicket of Delano Potgieter for a first-ball duck.
Kundai Matigimu got the first wicket for Tuks after the floodlight delay when he dismissed Jacob Miltz for a duck to leave UJ at a shaky score of 7/3.
Sean Gilson’s spin bowling compounded UJ’s problems as he got the wicket of Juan Landsberg with a beautiful googly as UJ slumped to 19/5.
Glen Adams made a valiant 18 for UJ, but the ever-impressive Trumplemann, who was later named player of the match, bowled him neck-and-crop.
UJ eventually made 60/7 after 8 overs and needed to put in a heroic performance with the ball if they wanted to win the game.
Chad Classen and Andrew Rasemene gave UJ hope with the ball as they had Tuks at 12/2 after two overs.
However, Neil Brand and Ruan de Swardt put on a composed and match-winning 55-run partnership to secure the win for Tuks.
These two Tuks stalwarts finished the job in the powerplay over to retain the title. Brans was named player of the tournament, after several great performances as an all-rounder, while he also added great value to Tuks’ campaign as captain of the team.
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
Rekord East
Rekord North
Rekord Centurion
Rekord Moot
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
