Northerns suffer defeat at the hands of rivals
It was only their second league defeat.
Eastern Premier League leaders Benoni Northerns Cricket Club (BNCC) suffered their second defeat of the season when they travelled to Barnard Stadium to play rivals Kempton Park on February 24.
The defeat cut down BNCC’s advantage on a day where Alberton Cricket Club moved ahead of third-placed Kempton Park into the second spot after their bonus point victory over CBC Old Boys in Alberton on the same day.
Batting first, BNCC lost their first six wickets with 77 runs on the board as Kempton’s Ruan Janse van Rensburg enjoyed a good opening spell of bowling.
The only real form of resistance came from the bat of all-rounder Leonard Killian who was ultimately left standing on 66 runs not-out from 82 deliveries at the end of the 50-over innings.
His team could only amass a score of 173/8 after the 50 overs were done.
With the bat, it was scores of 60 runs apiece from Kempton opener Wesley Coulentianos and number three batsman Brandon Harwood that helped steer the hosts to a five-wicket win in 44.5 overs.
BNCC skipper Kurt Francis said: “We are a bit disappointed, but we feel that we were beaten by the better team on the day.
“They out-bowled and out-batted us.
“Their batsmen applied themselves at the crease and took their chances when we bowled a bad ball which I think made a massive difference.
“It was tough to bat on a slow wicket with a slow outfield, but they just kept putting the pressure on us and we just lost too many wickets at important times in the innings.
“There is still a lot to play for with two games left in the league stage of the competition with us being five points ahead of Alberton, who we play on Sunday at Northerns.
“Hopefully we can put in a good performance and maintain our top spot,” added Francis.
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