With first deliveries of the 2014/15 Easterns Cricket Union Premier League scheduled to be bowled at 9.30am on Sunday, October 5, excitement is building.
The Union’s elite club cricket league always throws up some interesting encounters as teams battle it out for overall dominance and a potential spot in the 2015 National Club Championships in Pretoria.
It was Kempton Park Cricket Club who emerged as winners of the Premier League for the 2013/14 campaign, after overthrowing rivals Benoni Northerns Cricket Club (BNCC), who lifted the Easterns Premier League trophy the previous season.
Brakpan-based United Cricket Club’s Premier League team will be seeking to improve on last year’s showing in the league, in what is now their second campaign in the top local cricketing competition.
Skipper Justin Gamble, who had a taste of overseas cricket playing for Holmfirth, in the Drakes Huddersfield Cricket League, the premier cricket competition in the region, will again lead the team under the guidance of coach Frans Bezuidenhout.
United’s Premier team will face a baptism of fire first up when they travel to the Barnard Stadium, in Kempton Park, to take on the defending champions on Sunday, October 5.
This season an interesting alteration has been made to the Promotion League.
It has been split into a Premier Reserve League, as well as a third-tier Promotion League, in order to give the historically weaker clubs in this league more opportunity to progress and develop.
United will also field a team in the Premier Reserve League.
Another interesting addition to the Sunday games is the new age-restricted Colts League (14 to 17 years old), which was formed to bridge the gap between junior and senior cricket.
United will also feature a team in the Colts League, a Director’s League team and a President’s League XI this season.
For a full fixture list of both Saturday and Sunday leagues click here: fixtures_seniors2014-15
