Excitement was ripe when two local cricket clubs took on each other in their last Central Gauteng Lions League game of the year.
Marks Park Cricket Club’s U11 A side hosted Old Parks Cricket Club’s U11 B team on a hot day with not a cloud in sight in Emmarentia on 1 December.
Conditions were perfect for batting but Old Parks surprised their opponents by choosing to bowl first after winning the toss.
Old Parks B coach, Deepak Arjun, said his team had been in good form in previous matches, but this did not help as the Marks Park batsmen got off to a good start in the 25-over game.
Only two wickets fell in the innings, as Marks Park amassed 194 runs.
Mikaeel Garda (48 not out off 41 balls) and Bilal Varachia (41 off 43 balls) put the visiting bowlers to the sword and left the momentum with Marks Park at the break.
Only two good run-outs were positives that could be taken by Old Parks in the innings.
The visitors had a big target to chase and their batsmen struggled against the pace of the Marks Park bowlers.
Only two batsmen could reach double figures as the club from Bordeaux was bowled out for 93, meaning Marks Park won by 101 runs.
The chief resistance came from Emily Walker who, batting at number seven scored 50 runs not out off 54 balls including nine fours.
“It was a learning game for us, we didn’t bowl well and our fielding was also not good but we have shown some improvements from the last games,” said Arjun.
He added that when the season continued next year he would get his batsmen to work on their defence and playing well against fast bowling.
“Also… we were inconsistent with our bowling. We will work on our line and length.”
Marks Park coach, Rizwan Adam, said his team put in a good performance, only rueing their two run-outs, and his side’s lack of answers to an excellent batting display from Emily in the lower order, to keep it from being a perfect performance.
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