Admittedly, Kempton did not have all their semi-professionals in the mix on that day in 2014, so when they did bolster their ranks with players who have significant first class cricket experience on Sunday, it was never going to be an easy proposition for skipper Kurt Francis and his men as they suffered a 102-run loss.
That invaluable experience shone through as Kempton’s opener, Wesley Marshall, led the charge with the bat.
He notched up 122 runs in his innings and proved difficult to remove as he steered the home team to a score 301/9 in their 50 overs.
Jurie Snyman (50) and Casey Arnold (44) also made telling contributions with the willow, to set the defending champions an imposing target.
Stefano di Bartolomeo (3/44 in 10 overs) and Shawn Wessels (2/49 in 10 overs) were the pick of the Northerns bowlers.
With the bat, it was opening batsman Ernest Kemm, BNCC’s own semi-pro, who top-scored with 49 runs.
His was the only real resistance as the visitors were skittled for 199 in the 45th over.
“You can’t take it away from Kempton, they batted well,” said Francis.
“We didn’t build enough pressure with the ball and bowled too many boundary deliveries to relieve the pressure on them.”
He added that his team will need to keep moving forward and work towards getting a big win over Benoni neighbours Actonville in the derby on Sunday.
“The loss does put us slightly on the back foot, but I do feel that our best cricket is still to come,” he said.
“We are still positive about the season, because after winning the league last time around we know that it is a long campaign and that things can change quite easily.”
The Benoni cricket derby will be played at Northern Areas on Sunday, November 15, with the first ball to be bowled at 9.30am.
- Meanwhile, at Pollack Park A, in Springs, Jaco Kruger’s Promotion XI enjoyed a three-wicket win over Springs Old Boys (SOB).
Kruger won the toss and elected to bowl on a dry and cracking wicket.
“We bowled well in the first 17 overs, but dropped two catches that made us chase 206 where we should have been chasing 80,” he said.
“Dylan Alberts, from SOB, was dropped on zero and five and went on to score 87.
“We conceded 36 extras (30 wides) and that made us chase a total that should have been a lot lower.”
Talented Harley Steyn (4/25 in 9.4 overs) once again performed well with the ball, together with his opening partner Andrew Smith (2/48 in nine overs), who also rattled the batsmen with pace and accuracy.
Joshua Thomas also took a brace of wickets for 28 runs in five overs).
BNCC went in to bat after an early lunch and lost a wicket on the third ball of the innings.
Richard Thompson, who moved from number three to open the batting, batted well for a top score of 48 runs.
“We will be working on the bowlers this week, to get their lines correct, so that we won’t give away so many extras; however, it was a good effort from the boys to bounce back after our loss to Kempton last week,” said Francis.
- The club’s Directors XI enjoyed a 105 win over CBC Old Boys at Northern Areas.
Northerns posted 249/8 in 50 overs and had CBC all out for 144 in 37 overs.
Wesley Hinstridge top-scored with 49 not out and Anthony van Greunen took 4/17 in ten overs with the ball.
- In another interesting match, on Saturday, November 7, BNCC’s women’s team, playing their first ever game on the club’s A-field, defeated Duduza by a massive margin.
The women scored 343/1 in their 35 overs and bowled their opponents all out for 47.
Marlene Grieb smashed 152 not out, Anelda van Tonder scored 57 runs and Carmen Schmidt scored 52 retired hurt.
Skipper Sumari van den Berg took 5/18 with the ball.
