Boland Landbou bounce back, Pretorius and Hughes shine for Parel Vallei
Boland Landbou returned to winning ways with a dominant performance against HTS Drostdy after a nail-biting midweek loss to Stellenberg.
Marius du Plessis put the squeeze on the Drostdy batting lineup, knocking over 4/14 to help the farmers defend their modest total of 179.
The hosts elected to bat first, but matters did not go according to plan as their top-order departed early on. But Francois Prins helped settle the Boland innings with a composed and mature knock of 64 off of 124 deliveries.
Kobus Conradie, who features more regularly in the bowling stats, assisted with an additional 46 runs, confidently striking six boundaries, before a delivery by Helgardt Nortje knocked back his stumps, four runs shy of a half-century.
The HTS Drostdy bowlers were in good form. Sias du Toit enjoyed the best figures of 2/7, but Nortje, Reghardt du Plessis and Bryan Cochrane also dismissed two Boland batsmen each.
Unfortunately for the visitors, though, they had no answers to Marius du Plessis, who tore through their lineup before Tiaan Ryke rounded off an excellent defensive display with the last two wickets.
Meanwhile, in Somerset West, Parel Vallei outplayed Hermanus for a decisive victory, putting on display teasing glimpses of what their opponents can expect this year.
After their opening duo fell without scoring any runs, Christopher Hughes and Joshua Pretorius unleashed on the visiting bowlers.
Hughes was unfortunate to lose his wicket on 47, after patiently absorbing 85 deliveries, but there was nothing patient about Pretorius’ innings as he went for everything, blasting 20 boundaries in his devastating 144.
With Josua Smith delivering further punishment later in the innings, Hermanus were left with a mountain to climb, requiring 309 for to win.
Their innings went awry earlier on, with Sibulele Makaleni starting the Hermanus slide. After that, Hughes and Henry Jones wreaked havoc, dismissing the rest of the batsmen within 25 overs to see Parel Vallei to a 224-run win.
Their neighbours, Somerset College, were in action against Strand.
After Tyrone Rieth‘s 62 helped his side to 225, Somerset’s bowlers restricted the visitors to 172/8. Despite offering stubborn resistance, the visitors couldn’t turn their time at the crease into enough runs.
Alexia Kontopirakis had the most success for Somerset College, sending four batsmen from Strand back to the sheds.
Summarised Scorecards
Boland Landbou 179/10 (Francois Prins 64, Kobus Conradie 46, Extras 20; Sias du Toit 2/7, Helgardt Nortje 2/29, Reghardt du Plessis 2/36, Bryan Cochrane 2/43); HTS Drostdy 75/10 (Stephan Steyn 28; Marius du Plessis 4/14, Tiaan Ryke 2/5). Boland Landbou won by 104 runs.
Parel Vallei 308/9 (Joshua Pretorius 144, Christopher Hughes 47, Extras 37, Josua Smit 35; Julian du Toit 2/32, Trevor Titus 2/49); Hermanus 84/10 (Rohann Swart 20; Christopher Hughes 6/20, Henry Jones 3/31). Parel Vallei won by 224 runs.
Somerset College 225/10 (Tyrone Rieth 62, Extras 42, Chad Ayford 35, Luke Rimmer 30; Janu Fouche 3/39, Nathan Stoffberg 2/33, Morné Meyer 2/50); Strand 172/8 (Nicholis Martin 43, LW Coetzee 38, Extras 21; Alexia Kontopirakis 4/38, Troy Varie 2/48). Somerset College won by 53 runs.
