Toti 1sts bid goodbye to bogey team
During this time Jarryd came on to bowl and was determined to make up for not having scored any runs.
AMANZIMTOTI Cricket Club reports that the rain caused all the scheduled fixtures from the past weekend to be cancelled, except for the first team game.
After a week of consistent rain and the uncertainty of whether the team would play or not, Sunday morning arrived and the first team were off bright and early to DHSOB for the T20 semi final against Ilembe.
Neatly attired in their new RJ’s Steakhouse kit, the team went into bat first. This was not the ideal situation as the pitch had been under covers for four days and was damp and soft.
It was always going to be difficult to bat on the pitch, as Jarryd found out every early on when he was caught behind off the fifth ball of the innings. Robin and Wesley then patiently compiled a 52 run partnership before Robin was out in the 10th over, having scored 37 runs off 36 balls.
When James arrived at the crease, the ball was starting to soften, but luckily the pitch was starting to dry out. Boundaries were still few and far between but quick singles by both batsmen took the score to 69 before Wesley was out, stumped with his score on 19 in the 15th over. Tegan started his innings with a single and like Robin, only managed two fours and a six in his innings, but both he and James conspired to run the fielders ragged during the remaining five overs. Tegan finished unbeaten on 40 runs off 21 balls and James with 23 off 28 balls.
Ilembe were very happy at the change of innings, as they were positive they would be able to chase down the required 127 runs. Their talk of continuing as Toti’s bogey team became quite loud during the break.
At 33 for one after five overs, they began discussing who they would play in the final. At this stage of the game, ACC began slowly squeezing the life out of them with some very good bowling, backed-up by great fielding. During this time Jarryd came on to bowl and was determined to make up for not having scored any runs. He bowled four good overs, taking two wickets for 11 runs. Tegan had also made his mind up not to go home without securing a berth in the final. He weighed in with two wickets for 22 runs off his five overs. Robin in the meantime was applying his own brand of pressure to their batters. Standing up to Toti’s quick bowlers, he had the Ilembe players on the side of the field chuckling and asking if Toti’s wicket keeper thought he was Quinten de Kock. They soon found out that he was Robin Smith, and that he has hands like lightning, as he stumped two and was involved in three of their run outs. Justin Jones had bowled three overs for 26 runs with two wickets and had to defend nine off his fourth and the final over of the game.
Ilembe was at that stage 117 for nine wickets with their big hitting number eight batsman on strike. Jonesy is Jonesy and nothing seems to faze him. He ambled in to bowl his next five balls and held Ilembe to three runs, as the pressure to score caused a run-out to claim a six run victory. Ilembe did not so much lose this game, as Toti’s fielding and a fierce will to win, won it for them. Toti played the better cricket all-round, and can now say bye-bye to their previous bogey team. T20 cricket will now wait until 6 November for the final at Kingsmead.
No other league matches were played over the weekend as DDCU cancelled the fixtures due to water-logged grounds.
A composite second/fourth team played a friendly on Sunday afternoon against the newly formed Umkomaas Cricket Club. A good game of cricket was had by all, with ACC claiming a narrow victory. Well done and welcome to Umkomaas Cricket Club and all its members. Next week it’s back to 50 over league cricket, and Toti starts its campaign at home on Sunday against DHSOB. The club invites all local cricket lovers to come down to the Oval and support the team.
