WATCH: Blood, boundaries … and a broken bat

It was a game, strange in some ways, the Southern KwaZulu-Natal cricketers won’t forget in a hurry.

The Promotion A match against Harlequins, which the hosts won easily in the end by 79 runs, had numerous anxious moments.

For a start, a thunderous storm lashed the coast last Saturday night.

It soaked the field at Port Shepstone Country Club which meant a late start, never ideal, and giving more time for the butterflies most top order batsmen experience to grow bigger wings.

The game was shortened to 35 overs a side.

Three regulars could not make it for Southerns, including Mzekelo Dingane, who was stabbed in the abdomen last Friday night during a mugging.

He was in hospital recovering while the cricketers toiled in the baking sun.

Harlequins won the toss and their bowlers were marking off their run-ups almost before the umpire could pick up the coin, such was the immediacy and obviousness of the decision to bowl first.

It would be a test for the home batsmen.

Matt Redinger fell for only six runs and when Morné Bishop was out for a rare duck, there was some concern in the camp.

However, promoted opener Alveiro Nadasen proved to be a revelation, rotating the strike with neat singles, and cracking the ball to the boundary when it was there to be hit.

It helped that last week’s double-hundred hero Ashley Lombard, who came in at number four, was clearly still in the middle of a purple patch of some note.

ALSO READ: Outrageous efforts from Lombard and Tai

The ball was moving around menacingly, especially when delivered by Harlequins’ dreadlocked fast bowler Kevin Kettle.

If ever there was a day to get Lombard early, this was it.

Nadasen perished for 29, but Lombard kept up the assault, despite the procession of wickets at the other end.

The boundaries flowed, many clearing the ropes with ease.

One of these, a straight drive muscled back over the bowler’s head off one of the spin bowlers, clattered through tree branches and onto the windscreen of the umpire’s bakkie!

At one stage, Lombard broke his bat. “The willow went one way and the ball another. Fortunately it went for four … the ball that is,” said Lombard.

He was eventually caught on the boundary trying to hook one onto the golf course.

He made 86 out of a total of 151 all out.

“It got up on me a bit quicker than I anticipated. Meant to hit it to mid-wicket so tried to readjust but just couldn’t quite get it right,” he said.

The whoop of delight when he was dismissed told a story, or perhaps it was because of the quality of the catch by Harlequins’ follically-advantaged fast bowler.

The wicket had dried out, meaning in theory that it should have been be easier to bat on, but this did not prove to be the case.

Redinger made up for his failure with the bat, nipping out two early wickets as Harlequins’ openers struggled with his swing and movement off the track.

At the other end, left-arm leg-spinner Sajid Tai (rumoured to have learnt his sideways, almost upside-down, action watching videos of former Proteas bowler Paul ‘Frog in a Blender’ Adams) was miserly to say the least.

He wasn’t able to replicate his 7-10 from the week before, but he kept runs to a minimum, setting things up nicely for his captain, off-spinner Raja Kazi to slice through the middle order.

When Kazi picked up a wicket with his very first ball, he knew it was going to be a good day. The ball clipped the top of the bails with the gentlest of kisses, dislodging them, much to the batsman’s amazement.

He was the pick of the bowlers with 4-16 in seven overs, with the batsmen struggling to hit him off the square.

Harlequins could only manage 73 all out, meaning Southern KZN won by 79 runs.

The team is unbeaten so far in the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union Promotion A League and should win it if the current quality cricket continues.

And as for Dingane, at the time of writing he was still in hospital, but in good spirits and looking forward to getting back to his coaching duties as soon as possible.

Scores:

Batting: Matt Redinger 6, Alveiro Nadasen 29, Morné Bishop 0, Ashley Lombard 86, Raja Kazi 2, Gershion Lawrence 14, Meshen Lanka 0, Yusuf Moosa 4*, Sajid Tai 0, Ahmed Desai 2, Zeyn Moosa 5.

Bowling: Tai 0-10 in 6, Redinger 2-16 in 6, Kazi 4-16 in 7, Lawrence 0-14 in 4, Z Moosa 2-11 in 3, Nadasen 2-5 in 2.

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