Of stealth bombers and steam rolling

AMANZIMTOTI Cricket Club’s senior first team played Railways on the Toti Oval last Sunday.

Before the game started, coach Desigan Reddy delivered a team talk that set the tone for the day.

He simply stated that if the team played the way they practised the previous week, and stuck to their plan, the game would be won in a hurry.

Jarryd won the toss and elected to bowl first. Despite feeling unwell, JJ de Wet refused to sit this game out. He convinced Jarryd and Desigan that he was well enough to play. He opened the bowling and had their opening batsman well caught by Jarryd in the slips off his second ball. His first spell of bowling produced figures of four overs, two maidens, one wicket for two runs. He had tremendous support from young Jordan Clark, who opened the bowling in this team for the first time. His first spell was four overs, one maiden for five runs. JJ finished with the impressive figures of eight overs, three maidens, three wickets for six runs. Jordan finished with equally good figures of 9.3 overs, two maidens, four wickets for 26 runs.

Justin Jones arrived on the scene like a stealth bomber. The opposition never saw him coming, and were still breathing a sigh of relief after JJ and Jordan were taken off after each completing four overs. Justin bowled 10 overs on the trot and produced the remarkable figures of seven maidens (last six overs all maidens), two wickets for eight runs. Desigan bowled for the first time this season and sent down six overs, two maidens for nine runs. The only player supposed to bowl spin was Jarryd but many of the team claim that Desigan also bowled spin. He denied this strongly, claiming that he knew the opposition would battle to hit really slow cutters. Jarryd bowled three overs, two maidens, one wicket for five runs.

Railways were bowled out for 84 by a bowling attack that were well complemented with superb fielding and catching. James Taylor will treasure the memory of the unbelievably sharp catch that he took at third slip. That ball was travelling at high speed to the boundary until James threw his body at it.

Some 11. 3 overs later was the end of the game. Jarryd and Desigan put on a quick 59 run partnership, before Desigan was caught with his total on 26. Robin joined Jarryd, and they only took another 4.3 overs to reach the target. Jarryd finished on a solid 41 runs with Robin contributing 14. It is extremely satisfying watching this team play the brand of cricket they are playing at present.

A big thank you to Rujan du Preez for filling in as cover for JJ, and also for taking water out to the players regularly.

ACC 2nd team

This game rained out, fortunately some say.

ACC 5th team

The Toti 2 field is finally back in use. The 5th team were the first to use the new pitch on Saturday afternoon against Clares 3.

They managed to score 224 runs before bowling the opposition out for 110 in 24 overs. Oliver Gerhard top scored with 60 runs, well supported by James Grant with an unbeaten 44. Clint Fraser, Marc Shepard and Marcel Chard all contributed double figure sums to the total too.

Best bowling was returned by Jason Hines with 3 for 13 in his six overs. Next best were Clint Fraser with 3 for 27, and Marc Shepard with 2 for 17 keeping themselves in the action throughout.

The best result of the day is that none of the players physically attacked the groundsman. It is thus hopeful that after some more rolling with a heavy roller and a few more games played on this surface, that this pitch will become a true and reliable cricket wicket where many absorbing confrontations between bat and ball will take place.

U11 North friendly

The U11 north side took advantage of the bye weekend to arrange a friendly match versus the Durban Cricket Academy.

The toss was won, and the visitors sent in to bat. Things were kept tight in the beginning with DCA reaching 62 for three after 15 overs. They then accelerated, and finished on a good score of 170 for nine with the top batsman Tawfiq run out off the last ball for 75. Toti were in trouble early on with both openers back in the hut with the total less than 10. However Jayden Venter and Jason Butler rallied nicely to get to 68 for two at the halfway point. The boys could unfortunately not push on from there, and the team ended on 140 after their 30 overs.

There were a few lessons learnt, and these will hopefully be kept in mind when next playing a league game.

Fundraising

Toti Cricket Club will host a ‘donkey derby’ in the sports centre conference room at Lords and Legends on Friday, 19 February to raise funds. The club urges local businesses to get involved by purchasing the six ‘donkeys’ that will be running in each of the six races on the race card. These donkeys, and the naming rights to each of the six races, must be sold by 5 February so that the race card can be sent for printing.

The club invites the public and friends to join in on race night at 7pm for a fun-filled evening of gambling on the donkeys that will not move unless an enormous dice is thrown in its favour. The in-house tote will be operating at full gallop between each race.

Anyone interested in purchasing a donkey for the night can contact one of the following committee members: Rex Hindman on 072-501-8363; Pieter Venter on 079-777-5818 or Dean Carson on 083-555-2070.

In March the club would also like to host the Toti public at the Barnyard to an evening of music from the nineties. This involves a large deposit, so the club thus requests that anyone who is interested to let them know as soon as possible so that they can gauge how viable this fundraiser will be, prior to having to pay the large deposit. Contact Phillipa Carson 078-942-2934 if you would like to join in.