King Cetshwayo perform poorly like paupers

King Cetshwayo thumped in Castle Premier League fixture

Dave Savides

February 15, 2018

Bruce Tembo steams in from the Errico Park end Photo: Dave Savides

WITH a display as dismally grey as the overhead conditions, RH Construction King Cetshwayo embarrassed themselves by capitulating to a depressing seven wicket loss to Chatsworth Sporting in their KZN Castle Premier League match played at Addison Park on Sunday.

Following heavy overnight rain and ongoing drizzle, the fixture was reduced from 50 to 36 overs, only getting underway at lunch time.

Charl Groenewald hits out lustily, only to be caught on the boundary
Photo: Dave Savides

It didn’t matter: the home side survived just 23.5 overs against a disciplined, tight attack – but by no means an unplayable one – as they accumulated a mere 58 runs between them.

Only Bertus Basson (10) and Charl Groenewald (11) managed double figures as wickets tumbled owing to lack of application, carelessness and cavalier batting.

Zak Ntuli plays confidently to mid-wicket
Photo: Dave Savides

No fewer than nine wickets fell to catches, most from forced shots when defence would have been better suited, or failing to leave alone the enticing ball outside the off stump.

Had there been an admission fee, spectators would have demanded their money back, so dismal was the performance, especially bearing in mind the King Cetshwayo squad boasts a number of experienced campaigners.

A menacing Neill Jordan took out his anger on the opposition batsmen
Photo: Dave Savides

The white flag was raised incrementally and they finally surrendered after having scored just five boundaries between them.

The only batsman who could hold his head up at the end of the innings was tail-ender Bruce Tembo, who never faced a ball.

Sporting’s run chase would be a formality, given their target, but local paceman Neill Jordan vented his anger at the situation by almost blasting the heads off the visitors’ top order.

Ruan Janse van Rensburg may consider himself unlucky to have been given out LBW
Photo: Dave Savides

It took a meagre 11.3 overs to reach the objective, through a combination of good batting interspersed with lucky snicks and edges, mostly while taking evasive action.

One hopes lessons would have been learnt, the most obvious being that you can’t be caught if you hit it along the ground.

And you can’t win if you approach your task indifferently.