THE scorching Zululand heat on Sunday played a massive role in the Castle Premier League match between RH Construction uThungulu and Berea Rovers at Addison Park.
Apart batsmen having to overcome heat exhaustion and cramps, the slow outfield made things worse with balls that would normally be dispatched to the boundary, only producing one or two runs.
The home side padded up first, only to see opener Stephan Joubert heading back to the shed after being dismissed for one run and the scoreboard reading 8/1.
But an impressive partnership between opener Jason Redinger (85) and Eugene Zwart (35) got the home side back on the front foot before Zwart was eventually trapped LBW off the bowling of Van Rensburg.
Gary Park took off from where Zwart left off, building another solid partnership with Redinger before being run out for 39.
uThungulu reached 177/5 in their 50 overs, leaving Berea Rovers with the task of scoring 3.56 runs per over for victory.
The visitors fell well short of the required total, dismissed for 129 in the 46th over.
Ruan Janse van Rensburg lead the charge with figures of 4/18 in 10.
He managed two maidens in his impressive spell.
He was ably assisted by speedster Freedom Buthelezi (2/23 in 10) and left-arm orthodox spinner Stephan Joubert (2/12 in 8.1).
uThungulu travel to Durban on Sunday to take on Crusaders in their next assignment.
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