CBC Old Boys top order batsman Ryno van der Merwe hit a century to help the travellers to a pummelling 185-run win over minnows Avion in the two sides’ opening game of the second round of the Eastern Cricket Premier League at Jeugland Hoërskool on January 12.
After winning the toss and electing to bowl, the home side were almost immediately made to feel the wrath of a full-strength Old Boys side challenging for top honours this year as captain Casey Arnold and co. got off to a flying start.
Enter talismanic opener Mark Pearse who opened the batting clinic by putting up 49 and just falling short of a half century.
Arnold (31) and Sherwyn Pillay (5) did their bit before the Van der Merwe show reached its pinnacle as all four top strikers combined for a massive 186 runs to put the rest of the league on notice.
The collective effort from the visitors’ quartet was just four runs short of matching Avion’s collective total of 190 – with the hapless hosts almost beaten before they could even pick up a bat.
Old Boys were not done as the runs kept on coming right through their striking innings.
Rynard de Lange was his side’s second player to pass the 50-run mark with his 67 runs arriving as almost the cherry on top behind a clinical batting performance by the visitors.
Duo Lorenzo Nunes and Pevon Botha put the contest beyond doubt with their identical scores of 36 – leaving bottom orders Matthew Varner and Thulane Radebe to just wind down the overs as Old Boys fell 25 runs short of the 400-run mark.
Avion pair Frank Taljard (38) and Joshua Wilken (48) offered the most resistance for the Old Boys bowlers in what was otherwise a straightforward outing for the Boksburg XI.
Old Boys’ De Lange completed a complete performance on the afternoon with the leather as his 4/20 and three maidens stood out most in the bowling stakes.
De Lange’s teammate Botha and Avion’s Dwami Situebe took three wickets each.
