The team, who enjoyed an unbeaten first half last season, are in a bit of a predicament as recent losing results have seen them straggling behind a number of teams in the league.
After defeat at the hands of Tembisa the weekend prior, United were aiming to make things right, particularly with the bat, when they welcomed Benoni Northerns Cricket Club (BNCC) to Hosking Park on Sunday.
Their guests are no stranger to the Brakpan side and possess solid depth in their team.
Justin Gamble, United’s skipper, won the toss and put his opposite number Kurt Francis’ side in to bat.
Bowling first is often the right move in the league, but the BNCC openers (Rhenier Jordaan and Richard Thompson) stood firm to put on a 71-run partnership.
Jordaan and number three batsman Tian van der Walt put on an 87-run partnership before the former was caught in the third man area and dismissed for an almost run-a-ball 44 runs from 46 deliveries.
Jordaan would go on to score 96 runs before he was dismissed courtesy of a spectacular catch by former BNCC player Vaughn Humphrey.
Previous dropped catches in the field would, however, haunt the Brakpan-based outfit as BNCC put up a target of 265 runs despite the best efforts of United seamer and Italian national team player JP Meade (2/39 in eight overs) and spinner Aidan Justus (5/28 in 5.5 overs).
The host team’s recent woes with the willow would continue and the dismissal of opener Jose van der Berg for LBW in the first over and then number three Rian van der Merwe for 10 runs would be the precursor of things to come for United.
Humphrey and Gamble would form a 76-run fourth wicket partnership, but, when the captain was run-out for 37 runs, a downward spiral of wickets would follow.
Humphrey would fall six runs later for 45 runs from 53 deliveries and, despite 23 runs from number nine batsman Peter Trewick, that’s all that could be mustered up as they were bowled out for 161 runs in 37.1 overs.
Gamble bemoaned the team’s poor batting display that contributed to the 104-run defeat.
“Same again with the bat this week I’m afraid,” he told the Herald.
“We gave away plenty of soft wickets and only formed one partnership that was over 50 runs.
“With the ball we weren’t hitting our areas and the dropped catches really hurt us.
“The Northerns batsmen made us pay for those dropped catches.”
The skipper added that his chargers now need to play extremely well in their remaining matches of the first half if they want to stay in the Top Eight of the competition.
They will need to bring their best when they travel to Boksburg this Sunday, November 20 for a clash with CBC Old Boys.
• Meanwhile, the club’s Promotion League XI brought some joy back to Brakpan after they defeated BNCC’s Promotion team by two wickets in Benoni on Sunday.
CLICK HERE for a GALLERY from the match.
