THE Amanzimtoti Cricket Club’s (ACC) veterans came up against King Cetshwayo Cricket District (KCCD) in the final of the KZN Castle T20 Veterans League on October 25.

The match was played at Kingsmead Stadium, under the lights. KCCD won the toss and chose to take the field.

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Toti’s opening batsmen, Wikus Koortzen and Tertius Gubbles, got the Eagles off to a steady start before Koortzen was dismissed in the 4th over.

The club’s scribe, Peter Lonie, said Gubbles’ dismissal in the last of the power-play overs left ACC 26/2 after 6 overs, needing a bit of consolidation. Marc Shepard and Desmond Hughes set about this task and took the score to 50 before Hughes was out, caught.

“Two wickets fell in quick succession, leaving ACC in a spot of bother at 57/5 at the end of 13 overs. Shepard took the initiative in the 14th over and smashed a 6, followed by two boundaries, before being bowled for a well-played 41(31),” he said.

Bennie Benade joined Derick Snyman, and the two took ACC’s score to 92/7 when Benade was dismissed. Then Leon van der Westhuizen came to the wicket.

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Lonie said, “The next three overs saw a massive momentum shift back to ACC with 15 runs scored in the 18th over, 20 runs in the 19th over and 18 runs in the 20th over. ACC had reached 134/7 with batsmen Van der Westhuizen 36*(16) and Snyman 19*(16).”

KCCD came out to bat, requiring 135 runs to win, and after a steady opening over, lost their first wicket to a run-out in the second over. Hendrik Nienaber took ACC’s second wicket in the 4th over, and by the end of the 6 overs of power-play, KCCD were 37/2 – ahead of where ACC were at the same stage.

“At the halfway mark, KCCD were still just 2 wickets down and 74 runs to the good. Chris Cronje was introduced into the attack, taking two wickets with his first two deliveries, leaving KCCD 93/4 at the end of the 12th over. Cronje then took his third wicket in the 14th over and his fourth wicket in the 16th over. By this stage, KCCD were 119/6 after 16 overs and required 16 runs to win in the last 4 overs,” said Lonie.

Adding to that, KCCD managed to keep ahead of the required run rate, but Cronje struck again in the 18th over to claim his 5th wicket with the score on 132.

KCCD managed to score the 3 runs required with 1 ball remaining in the 18th over, winning by 3 wickets.

Amanzimtoti Cricket Club expressed thanks to Dolphins Cricket CEO, Heinrich Strydom, and everyone at Dolphins Cricket for affording them the opportunity to play at the world-class stadium.

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