Bishops celebrates a special occasion with a superb victory
Bishops‘ head coach, Lutho Pohlongo, or “Mr. P”, celebrated his 100th game in charge with a dominant 103-run victory by his side over Stellenberg High on the Frank Reid Field, on Saturday.
When the hosts batted first, their innings was led by a young man with an eerily prophetic surname – opening batsmen, Cameron Macbeth, anchored the innings with 84 runs off 116 balls. Despite an otherwise conservative approach, he also entertained the spectators with four fours and two maximums.
While some of the Stellies‘ bowlers did well to restrict the Bishops’ batsmen, there was clearly some early-season rustiness in the system still. Thus, the Bishops total of 265/9 after 50 overs included 35 extras, among them 19 wides and six no balls. Those extras tied James Robb-Quinlan for the second-highest contribution to the Bishops’ total.
Gerrad Kamalie was the best of the visitors’ bowlers, claiming 2/39 in nine overs, but he, also, was no-balled five times.
When they visited the crease, the visitors struggled to deal with the home team’s bowling attack.
Their top scorer, Francois Hugo, was cruelly dismissed just one run shy of a fifty when Fawaaz Davids sent the batsman’s bails flying. Davids enjoyed a tidy return of 2/12 from his three overs.
Jan-Jak Alberts, with 31, and Aiden Pienaar, with 30, offered further stout resistance, but it was not nearly enough.
Julian Pilkington, it appears, enjoys the number three. Following three matches at the end of the summer, it was the fourth time that he had snared three wickets in recent games for Bishops. He was also economical, conceding only 37 runs from his 10 overs.
Stellies held on for 40 overs but were ultimately dismissed for 162, with three of their top five mustering only a single each.
Credit must be given to the Bishops’ bowling unit. They were predacious in their approach and earned four of their wickets via caught and bowled. However, they, too, showed signs of rust, bowling 16 wides as the home side conceded 23 extras in total.
On the batting side of things, they’ll be hoping for a more consistent effort next time out, with more of their batsmen converting good starts into big scores. Otherwise, they looked every bit the formidable team that they were when they won the Schools SA 20 title back in March.
SCORES
Bishops 265/9 (Cameron Macbeth 84, James Robb-Quinlan 35, Thaafier Japtha 28, Adnaan Lagadien 21, Extras 35; Gerrard Kamalie 2/39, Jan Jak Alberts 2/55); Stellenberg 162/10 (Francois Hugo 49, Jan-Jak Alberts 31, Aiden Pienaar 30, Extras 23, Julian Pilkington 3/37, Fawaaz Davids 2/12, Matthew Schultz 2/23).
