United eventually come undone

With all the wet weather around the East Rand over the weekend, conditions were well suited to bowling and the coin toss would prove important on Sunday morning.

The toss was won by the home team and skipper Justin Gamble’s side was asked to bat first.

With the ball moving and zipping around, the CBC bowlers came to the party and gave the United batsmen a torrid time as they could post only 117 runs before being bowled out in 38 overs.

Altus Pretorius was the star of the show with the cherry for CBC, with impressive, economical statistics of 3/7 in six overs.

Craig Parker (2/34 in eight overs), George Viviers (2/30 in seven overs) and Keith Bennie (2/13 in five overs) all contributed to United’s batting woes.

Gamble’s 30 runs was the best score by a United batsman.

The United bowlers knew that they would have to produce something special in their bowling innings to pull the match back in their favour.

That magic didn’t come, however, with CBC’s opening batsman Dylan Bennie (53 not out) patiently sticking around for 106 deliveries, as he steered CBC Old Boys to an ultimately comfortable eight-wicket win.

A wicket each from Branden Grutter and Dylan Rayner was all that could be written home about from a United bowler’s point of view.

United team manager Des Gamble said the loss was somewhat of a reality check for the team, however, with second-placed Kempton Park sharing the rain points with KwaThema, due to a wet Willowmoore Park B wicket, they remain in first position on the log, albeit by a single point.

He also praised the CBC bowlers for their good display with the leather.

“It [the loss] certainly makes it a fierce league now, with Kempton Park, CBC and Benoni Northerns all within mere points of each other,” he said.

“We will have to gather ourselves and get ready to host Tembisa this weekend, at home.”

That fixture is scheduled to start at 9.30am, at Hosking Park, on Sunday, February 14.