CBC pull off great win against Benoni Northerns
Northerns were bowled out for 149 inside 42 overs.
CBC Old Boys pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the season on Human Rights Day, when they defeated Benoni Northerns in their Eastern Premier League clash at CBC.
With the hosts battling it out in the bottom half of the log and the visitors fighting for top spot with Kempton Park coming into the clash, the hosts were heavy underdogs.
Perhaps the first thing the hosts got right was to maximise their time behind the crease to take advantage of every delivery as they batted throughout their allotted overs.
The second positive was that despite a solid partnership eluding them during their innings, everyone contributed to keeping the pressure on the scoreboard.
But despite putting up an impressive 181, it’s an amount not really safe against quality opposition like Northerns and they must’ve known that despite one of their better showings with the bat this season, they still had their work cut out.
Old Boys’ hitter Mark Pearse led the innings after his side opened the game behind the crease with an important 48.
His teammates Sherwyn Pillay, captain Casey Arnold and Tyron Cameron added 29, 23 and 22 respectively, while Craig Parker’s 11 went a long way.
Northerns pair Ernest Kemm (3/19; 4) and Mark Robey (4/38) took seven wickets between them while tail-ender Sifiso Shabangu produced 2/22; 1.
CBC’s Parker completed his own hat-trick of wickets with 3/35; 2 while Carlton Johnson and Dean Boyd took a brace apiece as the visitors surprisingly buckled.
Speaking about the victory, CBC leader Arnold enthused: “It was awesome! It was well deserved and a good reward for a long, tough season.
“It was a good win by the boys, very unexpected. I think it was overdue. We’ve been improving every week and we had the same team for a few weeks. It was just reward for sticking it out in what has been one of our toughest seasons in our history.
“This season was good to end off with this kind of game and I think we’ll come back stronger next season if we can keep this core together and add one or two players,” added the skipper before touching on the win again.
“I think we just clicked. We’re capable of those type of performances at CBC, it just took a little bit longer than expected.”
