Solid wins league, Lions take knockout
There's been some exciting cricket played during the season.
After a blazing hot summer, with some rain at times, the Southern KZN Division Two fixtures for the 23/24 season have wrapped up, all 12 weekends of it.
The eventful league phase was won by Solid XI who only joined this season.
Solid was captained by Masee Vally, who was delighted to see his team gain promotion to Division One.
The team was strong in the bowling department, with many an opponent struggling to score runs.
Along with Masee, top performers included Azhar Suliman, Shalin Harriparsad, Junaid Mansoor, Tahir Khan and Sholin Naicker.
Second place went to Sheppy Lions, who played a cavalier style of cricket, smashing the ball all season.
Star players were Sijib Hasson, Imran Patel, Muzamil Ahmed, Ali Iftikar, Ishmail Sidat, Umair Ghani and Minhas Ayub.
Third place went to Manbrechd Vikings, a team that had been favourites at the start of the season but struggled to take wickets at crucial times.
However, the star top order of Marko Sukkels, Mikyle Bartyle and Rudi Smit kept them in contention in all the games during the season.
Fourth place went to Crusaders Cricket Club.
Crusaders showed significant improvement during the season, with standout players being AJ Pienaar, Iqram Amod, Usman Mohamed, Avinash Manilal, Bilal Habib and Yega Katharian.
Teams from fifth to seventh all had the same problem, and that was putting runs on the board in order to be able to win consistently.
Wolfpack performers were Ashley Naicker, Wayne de Beer, Preston Govender, Munaf Gafoor, Faizel Darshot and Ashlen Naidoo.
Standouts for Mustangs were Bevan Barth, Lance Hargreaves, Quinton Gonzalves, Theo Goldstone and Tyronne Fynn.
Impressing for Gamalakhe were Mbulelo Gcwensa, Trishat Radhaw, Simiso Mthemba, André Ellepen and Umanati Mdleko.
The top four teams advanced to the knockout part of the season.
In the semi-finals, Solid XI was in all sorts of trouble against Crusaders until captain Masee stepped to the wicket, playing a captain’s knock of 70 to get them over the line.
In the other semi-final, Manbrechd Vikings couldn’t take wickets at key stages to stop Sheppy Lions from blasting the ball over the boundary en route to the final, with Imran Patel being named man of the match.
This set up a mouth-watering final between Sheppy Lions and Solid XI.
It was a close game in which the last few overs could have gone either way.
But it was Sheppy Lions who were crowned champions, and captain Nadeem Ahmed lifted the trophy while Mehtar was named player of the final.
Division One’s season finishes in April.
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