EMPANGENI Rugby Club snatched a comfortable seven wicket victory over Richards Bay Rugby Club 1 in their opening First Division Saturday 24 over 8 ball league game at Addison Park.
The team’s victory was spearheaded by talisman Simon Savides, who knocked 76 not out and ended with bowling figures of 2/36 in three overs.
But the clash between the rivals produced a number of great moments, namely Richards Bay’s Paul Badenhorst smashing 79 after being bowled out on a front foot no ball and being dropped at mid-on, Empangeni’s Dewald Wessels making 56 and a total of 331 runs being scored on the day.
The home team’s captain Marc Shorkend won the toss and elected to bowl despite a wicket that offered little to the bowlers.
‘I decided to bowl first for a few simple reasons, namely knowing what to chase, we bat very deep and are a very successful chasing team with a number of our batsmen in great form. The pitch at Addison always becomes a batting paradise later in the day,’ said Shorkend.
Slow start
Despite the straight up-and-down pitch conditions, Richards Bay got off to a slow start, but later upped the run rate to finish their innings on 164/7 in their allotted time at the crease.
Badenhorst put on a solid partnership with Neil Steenkamp, who knocked 30, to aid his team to a respectable total.
Empangeni and RH Construction uThungulu speedster Jonty van den Berg ended with figures of 3/13 in three overs.
‘Bowling today was a little tricky owing to the pitch not aiding us bowlers, but putting the ball in the right areas and applying pressure on the batsman at certain periods of the game seemed to pay off today,’ said a pleased Van den Berg.
The Empangeni batsmen reached 167/3 in the 17th over to not only win the game, but also get their campaign off to a great start.
• Owing to time running out towards the end of last year heading into the festive season, Empangeni will take on Felixton in the First Division T20 finals on Saturday at Addison Park. Action gets underway at 1.30pm.
