Rain has cricketers running ragged

THE weather continued this weekend to plague the beginning of the Amanzimtoti Cricket Club fixtures.

None of the junior games were able to be played, and only three of the senior sides managed to get their fixtures completed.

ACC first team was due for a 9am start against DHSOB in its first 50 over league game of the season.

Rain, rain and more rain had two teams eager to play, sitting around talking nonsense and getting up to mischief and praying for the rain to stop. Around 11am, the persistent rain relented and the boys swung into action to get the outfield dry enough for the umpire to give the go ahead for the game to start. Wheelbarrow-loads of cut, dry grass were used to mop up puddles dotted around the pitch, which fortunately was under covers.

They are either becoming professional puddle driers or they are tired of hearing the groundsman shouting at them to hurry up, so at precisely noon, the game got underway.

The team did a very good job in record time but unfortunately that is where all their good work ended.

Put in to bat first in a game that was reduced to 31 overs a side, ACC went about the start of the innings as though they were still playing T20 cricket and lost important early wickets by trying to force the score along before they were properly settled at the crease. Wesley with 34 off 44 deliveries and James with 53 off 67, were the backbone of the batting effort. At the end of 31 overs, ACC had scored 160 runs for five wickets. At the change of innings, the talk was that the team were 20 to 30 runs shy of a total that could just be out of the opposition’s reach and that the players would need to bowl and field as they did last week against Ilembe.

The DHS captain had his own ideas of what should happen and took the attack to ACC’s bowlers right from the start of their innings. Poor bowling, shoddy fielding and dropped catches allowed him to score 61 runs off 48 balls. Where DHS held on to their catches during ACC’s batting, the Toti team contrived to drop most of the catches that were on offer and there were far too many put down. This, along with the bowlers giving them too many free-scoring shots led to Toti’s demise in the 29th over, with DHS scoring the winning runs with five wickets in hand.

Not a great start to the league, but the team will have learnt a lot from this game and the spirit among the players will see them bounce back and play to the standard of which they know they are capable.

It was the ACC second team’s fourth league game in a row where rain played a part in the game.

The boys decided to take the bull by the horns, and prepare their own pitch. Well done to the guys that came to help with getting the field prepared for an on-time start.

Silver Saints 2 made two mistakes – winning the toss and then deciding to bat first. Sheldon bowled the first over and took a wicket from the last ball of the over to make it a wicket maiden. After that it went downhill for Saints, with them losing four wickets for only seven runs; before their number five and six batsmen managed a 56 run stand for the fifth wicket.

The only batsman to have double figures was Sashin with 38 and the two ACC spinners took six wickets for only 13 runs. Faf finished with bowling figures of 3.3 overs, one maiden, three wickets for just five runs. Anelle bowled three overs for eight runs and took three wickets. Well done to all the bowlers who wrapped-up their opponents for only 66 runs in 20.1 overs.

ACC opened the batting with Mike and TP, and from the first ball they looked intent on finishing the game quickly. Mike hit a six from the first ball of the over and lost his wicket from the last ball of the over. TP lost his wicket shortly afterwards, which brought Faf and Sheldon to the middle with the score on 19 after just two overs. They enjoyed the next 3.5 overs with Sheldon hitting 26 from five balls in the sixth over, finally ending on 38 not out and Faf on 20 not out. ACC won the game by eight wickets.

Well done boys – three out of three, with one game no result rained out. Remember that there is still a long season ahead, so keep your cool and focus game by game. This is how the team can finish on top of the league.

ACC fifth team played against the DHS Rhythm side on Saturday.

The game was a close one, but unfortunately a couple of small issues got the better of the Toti side.

A difference on the run count by the scorers, playing a player short and finally only finishing the game after sunset, all contrived to have the team lose their first game in a long time.

DHS Rhythm batted first and put on a solid 216 runs in their allotted 30 overs. Three of the bowlers were each guilty of conceding over 14 runs to the over in their allotted spells. The best bowling from the local team was by Jordan Warren with three for 16 in his six over spell.

The batting side fared far better, with the majority of players getting runs. Top scorer was David Baker with 61 and he had some good support from Kalvin Klopper on 32 and Clint Fraser on 29. The team unfortunately fell just two runs short in the 28th over. Toti was all out for 214 in the 29th over.

Next weekend sees the celebration of Diwali, and most cricket fixtures are cancelled for the celebrations and festivities.