Runs galore as Ehlanzeni club cricket gets back in full swing
The biggest margin of victory in the first round of games was no fewer than 190 runs.
Club cricket in Ehlanzeni has kicked into gear once again as the Mpumalanga Cricket T20 Competition officially got under way.
The competition is divided into two divisions – Premier and Promo. Both divisions started on Saturday, with a collective 12 games scheduled for the first match day on October 5.
LVCC, Impala and Malelane Rats all hosted matches in the Promo Division while LVCC, White River and Valencia hosted Premier Division matches. Of the 12 scheduled matches, nine were honoured and played.
LVCC are the defending champions in the Premier Division and Ngodwana won the Promo Division in 2023, but have been promoted to Premier this year.
LVCC got their title defence going with a double-header last weekend, taking on Nelspruit Cricket Club and Malekutu. They managed to win both encounters, beating Nelspruit by nine wickets in the morning and defeating Malekutu by 94 runs in the afternoon.
White River thumped Spiders by 196 runs, the largest winning margin of the weekend. In the only other Premier game of the weekend Valencia were victorious against Ngodwana, coming out on top by four wickets.
In the Promo Division LVCC 2 played Malekutu, losing by 31 runs. Impala played a double-header, beating the University of Mpumalanga by eight wickets in the first game, before beating Barberton by 109 runs in their second game. Malelane Rats also played a double-header. They beat Nelspruit 2 by 22 runs and defeated White River 2 by 81 runs in their second game.
There were a few standout performances on the first day of competition. Dean van der Merwe got the highest score of the day, with 96 not out off 56 balls for LVCC against Malekutu.
The best bowling performance also belonged to LVCC against Malekutu, as Zweli Ngwenyama bagged a brilliant six wickets for only five runs in his four overs.
Other milestones during the weekend:
Batting:
• Funi Lushaba (Malelane Rats vs White River 2) – 89 not out (42 balls)
• Bruce Nel (White River vs Spiders) – 82 not out (58)
• Armand Labuschagne (Impala vs Barberton) – 68 (33)
• Kyle Alexander (Impala vs University of Mpumalanga) – 60 (37)
• Werner Staubli (White River 2 vs Malelane Rats) – 59 not out (42)
• Funi Lushaba (Malelane Rats vs Nelspruit 2) – 53 (40)
Bowling:
• Akhulile Mkatu (White River vs Spiders) – 3 overs, 14 runs, 5 wickets.
