ACC’S 1st team travelled to Verulam on Sunday morning for their last league fixture before the Christmas break.
The opposition batted first, in the hope that two of their team members who were involved in a wedding ceremony during the morning might make it in time to bat.
Once again only one umpire was on hand to officiate. Both teams always look forward to this fixture, as there is mutual respect and friendship between the players and club officials. This respect by both teams was tested to the limit by some poor umpiring, and it is to the credit of both teams that they played the game without allowing tempers to flare. The game may consequently have lost some of the good spirit in which it was played.
Accurate bowling and poor batting put Verulam under pressure from the start and they only managed 16 runs for one wicket in the first 12 overs. Standout bowlers were JJ deWet with 8.4 overs 3/27, Bevis Prismal with six overs 2/16, Justin Jones with 10 overs 1/35. Jordyn Clark bowled eight very good overs 0/20 and was unlucky not to get a wicket. In the end they conceded eight wickets for 155 runs, and the late arrival of the two wedding guests did not assist them.
Jarryd Michaux and Desigan Reddy opened the batting. Desigan lost his wicket in the 5th over to a simple mid-wicket catch. Devon Kupfermann joined Jarryd, but uncharacteristically struggled to middle the ball while Jarryd, who has not been able to buy a run in the last few games, began to enjoy hitting the ball again. After Devon was out caught for four, the fun and games with the umpire turned against ACC. James Taylor and Quinten Grobler were out LBW to bad decisions and Faf Strydom was clean bowled. Jarryd and Justin Jones moved the score along to 73 before Jarryd got the third bad LBW decision to cost ACC a wicket and was out for a well-constructed 47 runs off 53 balls. Justin went out for 15 with the score on 106. JJ de Wet and Robert Warrior then carried the team home to a bonus point victory in the 38th over. JJ scored 43 of 57 balls, while Rob held up his end for nine runs off 21 balls.
A win is a win but cricketers who practise and play hard to do well for themselves and their teams should not be subjected to consistently poor umpiring decisions in their games, especially where the umpires are provided by the cricket union. Verulam went the extra mile in hosting ACC’s 1st team by providing a superb curry for both teams, the officials and spectators at lunch time. This is a very rare occurrence in this league and their efforts were appreciated by players and supporters alike.
On a lighter note, the 1st team look forward to the T20 game against Toti Rugby Club’s 1st team on Sunday, 20 December at the Hutchison Park Oval. Both teams invite all their supporters to watch this fun-filled spectacle from 10am onwards. The cricket spies have informed the 1st team that the rugby boys had a two-hour net session last Sunday, and have plans for a few more midweek sessions. They are very serious about beating the cricketers. There is also a rumour doing the rounds that they have a provincial cricketer who has turned to playing rugby for Toti. Interesting?
ACC 2nd team
For the last league game of the year, the seconds played against Railways 2 at the Northcroft field.
Railways won the toss and elected to bat first, but were bowled out in the 11th over for only 43 by some good bowling from Bennie Benadie who had four overs and got four wickets for just 18 runs.
Riek Jansen van Rensburg bowled one over for two runs and took a wicket. Aiden Heilbuth bowled 2.2 overs and got three wickets for four runs. He bowled the last two batsmen with the last two balls of the match and will therefore be on a hat trick ball when he plays his first game next season. Well done Aiden, the club looks forward to reporting that hat-trick.
Toti went in to bat and the game was over in the 8th over with only two wickets lost. Warren (Buggy) Pullock made 21 runs from 28 balls not out, and Mike (Wors) Maree, 19 from 14 balls including four fours. The team has played eight games so far in their league and only lost one. Well done guys, see you all in the New Year.
ACC 3rd team
On Sunday, 13 December, the ACC 3rd team hosted DHS Rhythm 3 at the Toti Oval.
DHS won the toss and decided to bat first. Opening bowlers, Llewellyn Pretorius (2/20) and Darren Herbst (2/8) kept things nice and tight, and maintained pressure on the batsmen right from the start.
The first wicket came after a spectacular dropped catch by Jacques Van Zyl, which led to a mix-up between the batsmen. Goose Erlank swooped in and decimated the wickets with a direct hit. Only one of the DHS batsmen managed to get double figures, with all the bowlers playing their part, and they were well backed up in the field by Jacques who also took a spectacular catch, and wrapped up the innings with a wicket in his only over (1/0).
The other wicket-takers were Mark Bingham 1/9 and Goose 1/16. DHS Rhythm all out for 102. ACC came out and chased down the total with ease in 15 overs for the loss of only two wickets. Opening batsmen Peter Matthews (4) and Jacques (28) will be kicking themselves for throwing their wickets away. Shaun Kolver (32 not out) and Goose (23 not out) took ACC across the line for a win by eight wickets. Many thanks to Rex for another great pitch, and Cliffy for scoring. See you all at the nets until the team’s next game on 10 January 2016.
All done – just in time too.
