EMPANGENI Rugby Club beat Felixton Cricket Club by 21 runs to claim the First Division T20 title on Saturday at Addison Park, which resulted in captain Marc Shorkend and his troops going into full party mode till late into the evening.
This was the third consecutive season that these two teams met in the finals, with Felixton winning in 2013 and Empangeni in 2014/15.
Shorkend won the toss and elected to bat first on a pitch that he described as a ‘highway’.
‘The pitch is flat, doing nothing with the ball coming onto the bat,’ said Shorkend.
Openers Dillon Peyper (28) and Stephan Joubert (21) got their side off to a flying start, scoring at over 9 runs an over.
But after the Felixton bowlers found their length, they managed to reduce the run rate and take a few scalps.
Lazar Holmes notched up 22 not out to aid his team to 124/6 in their 20 overs.
Spinner Phakamani Mthethwa ended with 2/28 in 4.
Needing just over 6 runs per over for victory on a flat batting track and a huge outfield seemed achievable for the visitors.
But after both openers failed with the bat, the home side had their tails up.
Trevor Kietzmann tried to steady his team, before falling for 34.
Holmes 2/14 in 4 and spinner Joubert 1/11 in 4 managed to do all the damage.
Felixton ended on 103/7, falling 21 runs short of the total.
