BNCC retain one-point lead at the top of Premier League One
Northerns retained their one-point lead atop the Premier League One for another week.
Benoni Northerns Cricket Club’s (BNCC) Premier League One XI kept their slender one-point lead over Alberton at the top of the league table when they defeated Tembisa at Northern Areas on February 25.
BNCC skipper Kurt Francis won the morning toss and elected to field first.
Opening bowler Stefan Jordaan bagged the wickets of Tembisa’s Thulani Thembela and Kyle Degambur early on with the score at 24/2, but their hard-hitting opener Enock Makamo put his foot down.
Makamo blitzed 70 runs from 63 deliveries (six fours and four sixes) and took his side to 106/3 before his wicket was claimed by Phumelelo Masetlane.
The aggressive opening batsman’s quick knock was complemented by number four batsman Vincent Herold’s 48 runs from 95 deliveries.
Despite their good scores, the other Tembisan batsmen could not follow suit.
With only ten players fielded by Tembisa, they were soon dismissed for 168 runs.
Stefan Jordaan was the best of the Northerns bowlers with statistics of 3/26 in seven overs followed by Masetlane (2/24 in 5.2 overs) and a quick brace of wickets from Twayne Stewart (2/15 in two overs).
In their reply with the willow, BNCC’s opening pair, namely Vaughn Humphrey and Rhenier Jordaan, put on 40 runs before the latter was dismissed, bringing Rian van der Merwe to the crease.
Humphrey (25 runs from 32 balls) followed his opening partner off the field 13 runs later.
This brought Stefano di Bartolomeo to the wicket.
Van der Merwe and di Bartolomeo were excellent for BNCC because both reached half-centuries.
The former scored 61 runs not out from 58 balls (nine fours) while the latter hit 50 runs from 32 deliveries (seven fours and two sixes).
When Di Bartolomeo was caught out, captain Francis came in to knock off the remaining runs that would give his team a bonus-point win.
“I am extremely happy about the win especially after Tembisa came out hard with the bat.
“When we settled down with the ball, we took control of the innings.
“With the bat we had another cluster of wickets fall, but a great knock from Stef and Rian saw us win the game comfortably and retain our spot on the top of the table.”
BNCC will travel to Lords Cricket Grounds to play a Benoni cricket derby against Actonville Spurs on March 4.
The first delivery is scheduled to be bowled at 10am.
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