Quins 1sts seal sizzling win over Umzinto

Five Harlequins senior cricket teams played league matches in various divisions on Sunday, 13 January, with warm weather, clear skies and moderate north-easterly winds setting the stage.
The first team took on a composite team from Umzinto, comprising a number of players from various clubs in the mid-South Coast and adjacent interior. Quins batted first on a dry wicket with a slow outfield.
Quins lost an opening batsman in the first over, followed primarily by minor, insignificant contributions from the entire batting order. Opener Heath Manicom’s superlative innings which although slow and methodical, was precisely what the team required. Heath displayed perfect balance in his 32 overs innings.
It was a defensive innings of attrition, wearing down the opposition’s pace attack, in which he accumulated 32 runs to the team’s total. This allowed Fayaz Safri to continue his middle order role of textbook shots of drives, cuts and pulls which added another 32 runs. Kevin Kettle struck the only six of the innings. He attempted many conventional and reverse sweep shots off the spinners as well to accrue 20 runs in the lower order, in quick time. No other batsman contributed anything significant to the total of 147 runs in 48 overs, with the loss of all 10 wickets. This total was considered below par for the situation, however Quins knew they had a chance of bowling out the opposition due to their having probably the best two strike bowlers in the league.

With just three Umzinto wickets falling in the first 14 overs, and the medium pacers and slow bowlers being mainly ineffectual, it really appeared as if Umzinto had the ascendency at 101 runs for the loss of four wickets in 31 overs. However the return of opening bowler Yousuf Godil and the introduction of right arm orthodox spinner Brandon De Meillon, saw Quins capture three more wickets, with the opposition requiring a dozen runs. Yousuf had bowled out his spell of 10 overs, capturing two wickets for 30 runs.
Fast bowler Kevin Kettle was re-introduced for a second spell of three overs, beating the lower order right-handed batsmen with pace combined with lateral away movement on multiple occasions. He however failed to capture a wicket. With six runs needed for victory, the eight wicket fell. Two singles were added by Umzinto’s number nine batsman to bring their team within four runs of a victory.
De Meillon delivered his slow orthodox spinners with zest and accuracy at a critical juncture. Umzinto’s tail-end batsmen showed their inexperience by attempting a dangerous run, however a superb throw from a Quins fielder was expertly deflected by wicket keeper Daniel Smuts onto the stumps, confirming a run-out and victory for Quins by just four runs, with 11 overs remaining.
Yousuf Godil captured two wicket for 30 runs in 10 overs, Kevin Kettle took three for seven runs in 10 overs and Brandon De Meillon claimed two for 21 runs in six overs. This was a tense match in which Quins fielders dropped five potential catches. The game was electrifying in the last four overs, and it was played by opposition with courteous ethics.

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