Northerns defeated despite valiant chase
Northerns lose their second of three Club Champs matches.
A gallant chase from Benoni Northerns Cricket Club (BNCC) was not enough on Friday, April 24, when the club took on Crusaders Cricket Club in the Momentum National Club Championships in Sinoville, Pretoria.
It was the Premier XI’s third fixture at Cricket South Africa’s elite national club cricket tournament.
The team defeated United Cricket Club East London on Wednesday and lost to the University of Johannesburg (UJ) on Thursday.
Today the team met Crusaders Cricket Club from KwaZulu Natal and was in for a tough fixture considering that Crusaders had defeated UJ on the opening day.
Bowling first, Northerns found themselves on the back-foot in the early overs as Dolphins franchise opening batsman Cameron Delport smashed the BNCC bowlers around the park in an innings of 83 runs off 40 deliveries that included 15 fours and a single maximum.
As the innings wore on it was BNCC’s spinners who would bring down the Crusaders run-rate and make an impact.
GC Pretorius and Ernest Kemm made inroads in the Crusaders’ batting order.
Pretorius claimed three opposition scalps (figures of 3/45 in 10 overs), while Kemm’s off-spin accounted for four Crusaders wickets with economical stats of 4/24 in 10 overs.
Crusaders would set the Benoni outfit a challenging target of 245 after finishing 244 all out in 46.4 overs.
BNCC opening batsmen Kemm and Levon Shields worked hard to set an opening partnership of 58 runs before Shields departed.
Kemm stuck around for a solid 44 off 82 deliveries while JP Kok scored 34 runs off 42 balls.
The wickets of Kemm, Kok and Pretorius fell for just two runs and BNCC found themselves in a spot of bother.
Power-hitters Mark Robey and captain Kurt Francis got together and added 32 before Robey was caught off the bowling of Delport.
Francis played the proverbial captain’s innings with a knock of 62 off 54 deliveries that included seven fours.
Northerns edged closer to the target, but the skipper’s batting partners fell around him and he was left standing on 62 not out.
When number 11 Shawn Wessels was bowled by Delport it marked the end of the encounter with Crusaders winning the clash by 29 runs.
The loss almost completely diminishes Northerns’ hopes of a spot in Monday’s final.
They will hope to achieve two wins in Irene on Saturday and Sunday when they face Erdinger Durbanville Cricket Club and Union Stars respectively.
