UJ returns home with silver medals
AUCKLAND PARK – UJ pleased with second-place finish.
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) team will be looking to build on an impressive performance in the Varsity Cricket tournament where they ended in second place.
They lost the final match to the University of Pretoria (UP) in Potchefstroom on 7 September but the coach of the boys in orange, Dumisa Makalima, was encouraged by his squad’s performance in qualifying for the final. He said, “There are absolutely some positives which we can take from the tournament. We had a mixture of senior players and youngsters, with quite a few of them making their debuts in this tournament.”
The final developed into a frustrating affair for UJ after a power failure resulted in a two-hour delay during their innings. In the end, the innings was reduced to eight overs, in which the Johannesburg side made 60/7, a reasonable recovery after they had been reduced to 19/5. UP were able to reach their target for the loss of two wickets.
Their tournament was made a bit more complicated after captain Muhammed Mayet was injured in an accident and unable to play again in the tournament. The team, which has been together for the last six months, powered through this to make it to the final. The team’s success was to be based on UJ recruiting smartly to complement the talent already in the squad. Makalima said, “We want to make sure we have a good balance in the squad and I am confident this team will go from strength to strength.”
Coach Makalima celebrated several players’ efforts that contributed in their successful run to the finals. “One of our main successes was the batting of our openers Joshua Richards and Delano Potgieter, who often gave us good starts … Chad Classen had a good week with the ball and we had a nice mix in our bowling combinations, made up of fast bowlers and spinners.”
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