ACC 1sts overcome rain, poor pitch to prevail
INK batted first and their batters, who were mainly youngsters, struggled to get the ball through the field, despite playing some good shots.
WITH the Amanzimtoti Cricket Club first team due to play their opening T20 match against Verulam on Sunday, the weather tried once again to dampen their spirits.
On Saturday the out-field of the Toti oval looked like a series of swimming pools.
Most of Saturday was spent using squeegees to drain the various pools dotted around the oval of rain water. Thankfully the sun was shining and a light wind was blowing, and this helped to sufficiently dry the field for the game to take place on Sunday.
Verulam struggled to bat first on the moist pitch which had been under covers most of the time since Friday. The damp outfield slowed the ball down tremendously and they battled to get the ball to the boundary. Verulam amassed a score of 86 for six in their 20 overs. Jarryd Michaux led the way for the bowlers, taking two wickets for 12 runs off his four overs.
Warren Fry batted patiently for 28 not out, and ACC passed Verulam’s score in the 18th over for the loss of five wickets.
The second game was played at the Newlands oval in the afternoon. The ground was a mess when they arrived for the game against INK. The pitch was in poor condition and the outfield had not been cut. Thankfully the sun had dried the field by the time the game started, otherwise runs would only have been scored by hitting sixes, which was highly unlikely, given the state of the pitch.
INK batted first and their batters, who were mainly youngsters, struggled to get the ball through the field, despite playing some good shots. They later changed their tactics and started playing tip and run. They were very quick between the wickets and had the fielders on the hop for quite a while. Calm heads prevailed in ACC’s ranks, and wickets started to fall at regular intervals. Their scoring rate slowed again and they finally finished their 20 overs having scored 78 runs for the loss of six wickets. Jarryd took the game away from them in the first four overs by smashing the ball over the top of their inner ring of fielders, hitting six very powerful fours in his score of 29 off 18 balls. Robin and James followed Jarryd’s lead, and also scored rapidly, hitting over the top of the opposition fielders. They made a quick-fire 11 and 17 runs respectively. The opposition total was passed with the second ball of the 10th over, for the loss of three wickets.
This was a decent start to the season, but much hard work will still be needed if ACC wants to win the T20 competition and the league.
