One week they win, the next week they lose.
After six weeks of action in the 2016/2017 Eastern Premier League the club’s results, when put down on paper, resemble a see-saw bouncing up and down (win, loss, win, loss, win, loss).
The most recent defeat came on Sunday, November 6 when the team, who enjoyed such a prolific past campaign, found themselves on the receiving end of a three-wicket defeat to Tembisa at Hosking Park.
In times gone by a so-called “emerging club” like Tembisa would perhaps be perceived to be “a walk in the park”, however, this season these clubs have been pulling off solid victories right across the region and are proving that they are more than capable of maintaining and improving on their positions in the upper echelons of the Eastern Cricket Union’s elite club league.
Across the league conditions have generally suited the teams bowling first and winning the coin toss has more than often proven to be crucial. After losing the toss on Sunday morning, United skipper Justin Gamble’s men were put in to bat.
Their batsmen never really delivered, evident by the fact that their Top Four were removed with just 62 runs on the board.
The remainder of the batting order could only produce 85 more runs as the hosts were bowled out for a total of 147 in 38.5 overs.
Opener Jose van der Berg was the top-scoring batsman with 31 runs from 41 deliveries while Enock Makamo (3/30 in 10 overs) was the chief destroyer with the ball for Tembisa. With the leather United’s bowlers toiled hard, but defending a low total was never going to be easy.
Seamer Nico van Zyl (3/39 in 10 overs) and spinner Branden Grutter (3/44 in 8.4 overs) put in good shifts, but Tembisa’s batsmen did enough to carry them over the line in 32.4 overs with three wickets in hand.
Reflecting on the result the United captain said: “Our batting just wasn’t good enough.
“We gave them a lot of soft wickets and didn’t get enough runs for our bowlers to defend.
“The bowlers put up a good fight and they nearly defended the below par score. “We will need to put together good batting partnerships and fight much harder this week.”
United will be striving to make things right at Hosking Park on Sunday, November 13 when they host a confident Benoni Northerns outfit (who defeated table-topping Kempton Park by a single on Sunday).
The first delivery is scheduled to be bowled at 10am.
• Meanwhile, the club’s Directors League XI won by six wickets against Bakerton on Sunday while their Colts League team lost by 183 runs to Benoni Northerns.
CLICK HERE for full details about the match.
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