Delayed Toti vs Umzinto cricket goes down to the wire for draw

ONCE again the weather gods interfered with the cricket that was to be played over the weekend.

The cricket union called off all games other than the Premier and Challenge leagues.

This meant that there was no game for Amanzimtoti Cricket Club’s third team who, along with the first team were the only two teams scheduled to play on the weekend. A trip down to Umzinto at lunchtime on Saturday gave a very good indication that the first team would not be playing in Umzinto on Sunday. Their entire field was totally waterlogged.

At 6.30am on Sunday, the team received a call from Umzinto requesting a venue change to Toti Oval but, with the annual Toy Run scheduled, all that could be offered was to possibly drain and repair Toti 2 and have a late start to the game. They gladly accepted.

The first team players plus a few volunteers assisted in helping to dry a soggy field using dry grass cuttings, brooms and a huge amount of energy to dry the field while the wicket was being prepared.

The game eventually started at 11.30am with ACC again losing the toss and having to bat first in a 35 overs game.

Wesley Wepenaar, who was opening the batting for the first time in the place of Jarryd Michuax who is injured, took an instant liking to a good pitch and short boundaries. He finished 164 not out off 97 balls. Unfortunately for Quinny and James, in his haste to score, he ran them both out early in their innings. His apologies knew no bounds and he promised to make good on his mistakes by batting through the innings and set the team up with a decent score which he did, hitting 10 fours and 16 sixes.

Dave Keats, playing his second game for the team, settled in and scored a quick 55 off 41 balls. Robin Smith smashed 22 off 10 balls before he was out, caught off the last ball of Toti’s innings. Umzinto needed to chase 275 to win at 7.8 runs per over. The Toti team was very confident that they could defend their tally and could possibly even earn a bonus point. They took to the field with all the plans in place to restrict the run rate and put Umzinto under pressure, which would help them to pick up quick wickets. It appears once they crossed over onto the field to start play, their memories were wiped out as there was no evidence of them following their own carefully laid plans.

This together with some tenacious batting by the Umzinto batsmen soon had Toti under pressure and as the overs went by and the score rapidly increased, the noise from all the motorbikes attending the Toy Run was drowned out by the cheering from the Umzinto players as their batsmen scored each run. At the end they needed two runs off the last ball. A combined effort from Tegan and Robin reduced them to one run and a run out on the attempted second run, leaving them on 274 for five. A draw was not what either team was expecting or wanted but after the gloom lifted a little, both teams agreed it was a great game of cricket.

Next Sunday all junior and senior teams are back in action – U13A on Toti 2 in the morning and U11A on Toti 2 in the afternoon. All other teams will play away.

There will an added attraction on the Oval from Sunday to Friday, 3 to 8 December. ACC will host the National Defence Force Cricket Week. All cricket lovers are invited to join in welcoming them to the ground by watching them play their cricket using Toti’s fantastic facilities.