Botha stars as Gimmies overcome Marais Viljoen in nailbiter
Tommie Botha took home the accolade of Man of the Match for his all-round performance of 51 from 88 balls and 4/40 as Potchefstroom Gimnasium snuck past Marais Viljoen in a tightly contested affair on day one of the Izuntaba Potch Gimmies Cricket Festival.
Playing on Gimmie Oval on Friday, Botha led the way after the home team had won the toss and elected to bat first. His opening partner Marnu Cronje played a vital support innings of 41 to ensure that they got off to a very good start.
However, Declan Botes (2/31) and Nathan Coleske (2/21) had other ideas. They combined for four quick wickets between them, stemming the flow of runs and shifting the pressure back onto the home side.
With four batsmen back in the pavilion, lower order batsman Caiden Seleka came to the rescue with a vital run-a-ball 32, combining with Righardt Joubert (23, 35b) to help the Gimmies to a very defendable 228 all out.
In response, Marais Viljoen enjoyed a good start to their innings. They lost opener Jordan Baijnath early, but Jaydon Govender steadied the innings, with 44 from 61 deliveries. Later, Declan Botes, with a solid knock of 44 from 54, showed off his all-round abilities following a good performance with the ball.
Together, they produced a 65-run partnership for the third wicket. Botha, though, broke through, claiming the wicket of Botes.
This threw the cat amongst the pigeons as the side from Kempton Park started losing wickets at regular intervals. Ruben Kruger fought valiantly, making a defiant 30, which almost saw the visitors over the line. Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t meant to be as Marais Viljoen fell agonisingly short, suffering a five-run defeat.
Westville’s Invitational side showed that they are not to be taken lightly, beating Hoerskool Monument comfortably by seven wickets.
The Griffin won the toss and elected to bowl first. This proved to be a good decision as the visitors from Kwazulu-Natal had Monument in early trouble. They were wobbling at 32/3 before Waldo Greyling stepped up to the plate with an impressive contribution of 45.
With the innings steadied, Stephan O capitalised with a classy knock of 82 from 89 deliveries. He found strong support from Johan Zeedijk, who also notched a well-deserved half-century, contributing 62, to help Monnas to a very competitive total of 288 all out.
The Westville batsmen, however, looked extremely comfortable out in the middle as their innings got underway. Even after losing a couple of quick wickets, they looked to be in control. Following on from an excellent performance with the ball, Roxton Payne delivered with the bat, striking an unbeaten 101 from 98 deliveries.
Bhaskar Sewlal also cashed in, scoring an unbeaten century of his own, contributing 100 from 130 balls. Together, the pair amassed an incredible partnership of 205 runs for the fourth wicket, with their heroics leading Westville to a comfortable victory.
Klerksdorp High School opened their account with a walloping 112-run win over the Affies Invitational side. The side from the neighbouring town won the toss and took to the crease first. Dandre Slabbert was their main contributor with a wonderfully constructed 77 from only 73 deliveries.
Stephan Janse van Rensburg and Tumelo Macume also shone, with both accumulating 67 runs, to lift their side to 272/4 in their allotted 50 overs.
Rivan Ras proved to be the main thorn in Klerksdorp’s side, claiming figures of 2/34 in a difficult outing for the Affies’ bowlers.
The Affies’ innings, unfortunately for the Pretoria boys, never gained any momentum. Winton Abrahams did most of the damage up front, bagging 2/21 with the ball.
Dylan Koegelenberg, however, knuckled down and played a wonderful innings to give their reply some substance. He fell just six runs short of a well-deserved half-century, out for 44 from 81 deliveries.
Later, some positive stroke play from Ronan Cilliers (39, 54b) and a blistering 33 from Divan de Villiers injected some much-needed runs into the Affies’ innings.
Unfortunately, it was too little too late as they were bundled out for only 161.
Summarised scorecards:
Potchefstroom Gimnasium 228/10 (Tommie Botha 51, Marnu Cronje 41, Caiden Seleka 32, Righardt Joubert 23; Declan Botes 2/31, Nathan Coleske 2/21); Marais Viljoen 223/10 (Jayden Govender 44, Declan Botes 44, Aldre Huyzers 36, Ruben Kruger 30; Tommie Botha 4/40, Marnu Cronje 2/46, Ruan Lotz 2/39). Potchefstroom Gimnasium won by five runs.
Monument 288/10 (Stephan O 82, Johan Zeedijk 62, Waldo Greyling 45, Innocent Ramerafe 30; Roxton Payne 3/52, Heath Stott 2/36, Luke Maxwell 2/43); Westville 291/3 (Payne 101*, Bhaskar Sewlal 100*, Seth Simpson 26; Rieghardt Prinsloo 1/39). Westville won by seven wickets.
Klerskdorp High School 272/4 (Dandre Slabbert 77, Stephan Janse van Rensburg 67, Tumelo Macume 67, Mohamed Bulnulia 42; Rivan Ras 2/34); Affies Invitational 161/10 (Dylan Koegelenberg 44, Ronan Cilliers 39, Divan de Vries 33; Winton Abrahams 2/21, Benrie Fourie 2/8). Klerskdorp High School won by 112 runs.
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