Kempton premier side claims 10th title in 12 years
'It was a big day for our club as it marked our 10th Premier League win in the space of 12 seasons.'
By Logan Green
In what has become a regular occurrence in recent times the battle for the Eastern Cricket Union’s Premier League title once again came down to a final clash between Kempton Park Cricket Club (KPCC) and Benoni Northerns Cricket Club (BNCC) at Sahara Park Willowmoore’s main oval on Sunday.
BNCC, who finished in second place on the final league log behind Kempton Park, had to do things the long way round by playing a second versus third play-off match against Alberton Cricket Club on Saturday at the same venue.
They achieved a five-wicket victory and a spot in the final the next day against their old foes.
On Sunday, KPCC’s skipper Johan Fourie lost the morning coin toss and his team were asked to bowl first.
Under cloudy morning skies Kempton’s bowlers dismantled the Northerns top five. They had their rivals in trouble with just 28 runs on the board in the first 10 overs.
BNCC’s Aron Visser and Mark Robey then met up at the wicket and patiently put together a 54-run partnership before Visser was run-out for 21 following poor communication.
Robey soon suffered the same fate and was sent back to the change room with 33 runs to his name.
Lance Humphrey’s 26 runs from 35 deliveries was all to write home about as BNCC were bowled out for 135 runs in 46.5 overs.
Kempton Park’s Armand Erasmus (3/27 in 10 overs) was the star performer for his team while Brandon Harwood (2/10 in 2.5 overs), Fourie (1/14 in six overs), Kofi Apea-Adu (1/17 in seven overs) and Sarel Myburgh (1/34 in 10 overs) did the rest of the damage.
Leg spinner Henning du Plooy was miserly with the ball, but didn’t bag a wicket. He only allowed 19 runs to be scored from his allotted 10 overs.
With the ball Northerns’ opening fast bowler Humphrey had a spring in his step and had Kempton’s top order reeling at 26/4, bagging all four wickets in a quick first spell.
He ended with figures of 4/30 in 8.5 overs.
Kempton’s Marius Lubbe and Du Plooy, however, knuckled down well after Humphrey’s rampant spell and patiently went about their business with the bat.
Du Plooy (top-scoring with 48 runs from 112 balls) and Lubbe (35 runs not out from 102 deliveries) formed a match-winning 78-run partnership.
Kempton’s veteran skipper Fourie then joined Lubbe at the crease and steered the team over the line in the 47th over to ensure a five-wicket win and a 10th Eastern Premier League title in 12 years for the Kempton Park club.
Commenting on the result Fourie said: “It was a big day for our club as it marked our 10th Premier League win in the space of 12 seasons.
“It was a lekker result for us, because we haven’t beaten Northerns once this year. They [BNCC] were excellent and gave it their all and the result showed it.”
Now, Kempton Park will fly the Eastern Cricket Union’s flag in a T20 play-off semi-final this Saturday morning (April 1) vs the winners of the Limpopo region’s league and potentially in the final against the winner of the other semi-final between the champions of the Mpumulanga and Northern Gauteng league.
On Sunday (April 2) the team will play a 50-over semi-final against the Limpopo winners and could book their place as the Titans franchise representatives in the restructured National Club Championships, should they qualify for and win the final against either the Mpumulanga or Northerns league winners on April 16.
The club’s Premier XI were not the only success stories for the 2016/2017 campaign.
Their Saturday Third League, Colts and Directors sides won their respective leagues while their Saturday First League and Premier Reserve League sides finished as runners-up in their leagues.
