Northerns see off Old Boys at CBC

The second wicket partnership of Vaughn Humphrey and Matthew Smith was enough to help steer the Benoni Northerns Cricket Club to victory in their match against CBC Old Boys on January 16 at CBC College in Boksburg.

The pair shared a second wicket stand of 121 runs that steadied the ship to help Benoni thump Old Boys by 88 runs.
Old Boys won the toss and elected to bowl, and things got off to a sluggish start for Benoni.

The opening pair of Alex Rudolph and Humphrey had only managed 29 runs from 10 overs when Rudolph’s wicket fell.
Rudolph was bowled out by seamer Lorenzo Nuns, whose fiery ball rattled the stumps.

Smith then joined Humphrey at the crease and the runs began to flow instantly, as Old Boys conceded 17 runs in the 11th over.

They rotated the strike with ease and scored boundaries regularly. Poor fielding and missed catches didn’t aid Old Boys’ cause, as Benoni raced to 100 runs in the 26th over.

The pair’s partnership was finally broken in the 38th over as Humphrey tried to scoop one over the fielder but was caught off the bowling of Robert Mutch. Humphrey left the field with 70 runs from 99 balls, with the score at 151-2.
Smith was joined by Rian van der Merwe and they continued to pile up the runs. However, van der Merwe was bowled out by Rikus Neethling two overs later.

Old Boys’ Thulane Radebe finally got rid of Smith in the 45th over as his full toss hit the stumps. Smith was out for 69 runs from 111 balls, with the score at 191-5.

Benoni’s batsmen continued to benefit from some poor bowling from Old Boys in the death overs and they finished their innings on 248-9 – with Old Boys needing 249 runs to win.

Radebe was the peak of the bowlers for Old Boys as he claimed four scalps, while Nicholas Lockyer also chipped in with two wickets.
Old Boys’ innings got off to the worst possible start as Mark Pearse was trapped leg before wicket (LBW) by the effervescent Daniel van der Berg in the second over.

The Old Boys batsmen really had to dig deep to keep the scoreboard ticking, as Benoni’s impressive bowling unit was assisted by hardworking fielders. They were restricted to singles and twos, with boundaries few and far between.

Len Killian and Rudolph combined in the 10th over to run out Dylan Bennie, and this was the beginning of Boksburg’s collapse.
In the 19th over and with the run rate picking up, Wikus Arnott edged one to the keeper off the bowling of Tyrese Kruger to leave Old Boys in trouble at 50-3.

Wickets fell at regular intervals as the Old Boys batsmen failed to form any meaningful partnerships. Benoni’s bowlers worked well as a unit and Kruger, van der Berg and Mark Robbey worked through the Old Boys middle order effortlessly.

Killian and Robbey then dismissed the tail-enders in quick succession and in the end Old Boys were all out for 160 runs after 45.2 overs – losing by 88 runs.

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