Pinetown Cricket Cub gears up for KZN T20 finals

PINETOWN Cricket Club has marched into the finals of the KZN T20 Premier League competition with a 7-run win over last season’s runners-up, Crusaders.

Having lost the toss, Pinetown were inserted to bat under sunny skies at the Asherville Sports Grounds against a formidable Crusaders attack. The Highwaymen got off to a slow but steady start losing the destructive Tyler Smith early on with the score on just 20.

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A cautious 56-run partnership between Durban High School Grade 11 opener, Humphrey van der Merwe (58 off 54) and Ryan Reeves (19 off 21) set the platform for an explosive 29 off 16 balls by Ryan Smith and 20 off 11 balls by Desigan Naidoo to take the Pinetown’s total to 162/7 at the close of the innings.

A fired-up Pinetown attack made early inroads into the Crusader batting juggernaut spearhead by global T20 mercinary, Cameron Delport (60 off 49 balls). Crusaders made a strong recovery from 40/3, after early strikes from Okuhle Cele (1/37) and Nhlakanipho Mpungose (1/29), with a 59-run partnership between Delport and Dolphins cricketer, Keith Dudgeon.

Just as Crusaders seemed to be taking control of the game, Ryan Reeves (3/29) entered the attack and struck immediately with two wickets in his first over to remove both Delport and Dudgeon. Ryan Smith (3/10) cleaned up the rest of the Crusaders’ resistance.

Pinetown captain, Ali Laghari, said: “There is a tremendous spirit in the side. We have fought hard as a team and the boys are playing for each other. Humphrey had a tentative start to his innings but he showed us what tremendous potential he has once he got in with some powerful strokes against high-quality bowling. Reevo’s twin strikes in his first over got us back in the game and we finished off clinically.

“We have already exceeded our expectations for this season but will be preparing hard the next two weeks for the final. With the spirit we have in this team, anything is possible,” said Laghari.

Pinetown will now play last season’s KZN Premier League T20 winners, Clares Cricket Club, whose line-up in their semi-final against UKZN included former Protea leg spinner, Imran Tahir. The final will take place at Kingsmead on Sunday, 3 November.

Club practises continue every Thursday from 7pm to 9pm at Motion Inc Sports at Westwood Mall. New members welcome. The club is also on the lookout for players for their women’s team and interested players can contact Cynthia Daye on 083 941 3324. For any further details, please contact Marco on 083 374 3769.

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