Brakpan-based United Cricket Club finished in fourth place, in only their second campaign in the elite competition, so it is no surprise that some of the stand-out players of their season have featured in the final top batting and bowling statistics, provided by the Eastern Cricket Union, as of March 19.
Opening fast bowler Kevin Hinton has been excellent with ball-in-hand for United and it is no surprise to see him topping the bowling standing for taking the most wickets in the league.
His total haul of 31 wickets put him one ahead of league-winning Benoni Northerns spinner GC Pretorius, who played four fewer games than Hinton.
Hinton achieved an average of 14.67 with the leather in the 15 innings (128 overs) which he bowled this season, with best figures of 5/29 against KT (Kwa Thema) Windies in his club’s penultimate Premier League game.
His opening partner Oswaldo De Sousa also featured in the top 10 bowling statistics (also just one wicket behind Hinton, with a total of 30 wickets).
His average of 15.10 in the 13 innings (105 overs) which he bowled is also mightily impressive.
United batsman Rian van der Merwe, who joined the club at the start of the season from Northerns, finished in fifth position for the top 10 Easterns run-getters with the willow in the Premier League.
He averaged 28.2 in the 14 innings which he batted (a total of 338 runs, two not-outs).
Van der Merwe’s 103 not out versus Duduza in January was his best knock.
United’s skipper and left-handed batsman Justin Gamble also featured in the batting top 10, in seventh position.
He scored a total of 282 runs (three not-outs) in 13 batting innings with the exact same average (28.2) as van der Merwe.
His best display was a score of 90 not out against Springs Old Boys at the end of November, last year.
