Wicket out for Randburg
PRAEGVILLE – Local cricket club is undone by its own pitch against visitors.
Randburg Cricket Club is left with it all to do after their own pitch led to their downfall in an important President’s League game.
The 50-over match on 7 January ended in a seven-wicket win for Pirates Sports Club. This puts Randburg eighth on the President’s League log (out of 12 teams) with almost a half season to go.
“We will not be able to win the league now as Wanderers and Khosa are running away with it,” said Randburg captain, Ryan Jacobs.
“We will definitely come back though and hopefully finish at least in mid-table.”
He explained that the pitch was not used during the holidays so it was dry and cracked in the week before the game.
“We watered the pitch before [the match] so it was soft and made the ball stick and skid, perfect for seam and spin bowling.”
Randburg lost the toss on the day and was sent in to bat on the tricky wicket. As expected, batting was tough and wickets fell throughout the innings.
Thabani Moyo top-scored with a miserly 28 runs as Randburg were bowled out for 166 inside 38 overs. As the hot day wore on, the pitch dried out and hardened, favouring batsmen in the afternoon.
The result was a fairly easy victory for the chasing side.
“If the pitch behaved better I think it would have been an equal match between the sides. Nevertheless, the team is gelling nicely and things are looking up for us the rest of the season.”
All nine of Randburg’s teams will play in various leagues on the weekend 13–14 January.
Fixtures, venues and more information about the club are available on the Randburg Cricket Club website www.senior.randburgcricket.co.za/.
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