It was a perfect day out for Marks Park Cricket Club when they beat tough opposition in a match on 31 March.
Marks Park hosted Wanderers Cricket Club for a Premier A League game under warm weather at their venue in Emmarentia.
The home side won the toss and chose to bat first, struggling to 168 runs for the loss of seven wickets in their 50 overs. “The pitch was a bit slow with variable bounce and hard to score runs on,” said the Marks Park captain, Yasser Ditta.
“Our middle order scored some runs and we thought our score was above par on the tough pitch.”
Wanderers bowlers, Dan Poulton (three wickets for 34 runs) and Migael Pretorius (two wickets for 23 runs – and a player who also bowls for the Lions) did well to take wickets while keeping the run rate low.
The Marks Park bowlers were also on point in the second innings as a cool breeze began to blow more and more as the day went on. The pitch also showed signs of wear, helping the spinners.
Zaid Saloojee (3/24) and Ditta (3/15) made the runs hard to get for Wanderers. In the end, the visitors were bowled out for 115 runs in 41 overs, which meant Marks Park won the game by 53 runs.
“Our bowlers were ruthless and the early wickets we took to set up our win.” Ditta said the team lies middle of the table with three matches left in the season.
Their next game is against Lenasia Cricket Club on 7 April.
“Our batting has been a challenge over the course of the season so it was good to see us grind some runs against Wanderers. Our batting is something we will work on in the next few matches.”
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