After a frustrating Thursday evening where the rain prevented a completed match against Kearsney, the hot, humid weather was a welcomed sight on Saturday as the Glenwood 1st XI prepared to take on the formidable Westville Boys’ High outfit. There were initial concerns that captain Sunkari would be unavailable due to national hockey commitments as would opening batsman/bowler Frost due to a fractured hand. The depth this year, however, meant that we were able to field a competitive unit both in the batting and the bowling department.
Browne lost the toss and was asked by Westville to take the new ball and field on an extremely uncomfortable humid morning. Openers Gouws and Atkins bowled an impeccable line and length and kept the Westville openers on the back foot, not allowing a partnership to develop. After 7 overs, Westville were struggling on 6 runs. Due to pressure from the seamers and no significant runs on the board, Westville eventually lost one of their openers to an easy catch at mid-off.
Seamers Elliot and Langley picked up from openers Gouws and Atkins with restrictive line and length bowling, keeping the run rate at 2 runs per over. Shortly thereafter, spinners Bissoon and Subrayen took over the Glenwood bowling duties and further suppressed the Westville batsman with outstanding off-spin bowling. After their combined 20 overs were completed, figures of 20 overs – 5 wickets -35 runs reflected and impressive display of accurate spin bowling. The Glenwood inner fielding backed up the precise bowling and assisted in keeping the Westville score to a minimum. At one stage, Westville were reeling at 77/8. After 50 overs, Westville had managed to recover to a competitive 142/9.
After re-shuffling the batting line-up due to the fact that Frost and Sunkari were unavailable, Ramsaroop and Browne took to the field and started the Glenwood innings with a revised 10 over spell before lunch. At the break, Glenwood were sitting on 35 without loss.
The interrupted luncheon didn’t disturb the Glenwood rhythm and Bowne, in particular, was ruthless with any wayward bowling. Ramsaroop eventually lost his wicket playing an irresponsible shot and Bisoon joined Browne for a brief stay before G. Venter and, unfortunately, followed Bisson shortly afterwards. Wissing then walked in and ably assisted Browne in knocking off the bulk of the runs before Browne departed with a well played 60. With only 30 odd runs to knock off Glenwood made heavy weather of scoring the remaining runs, losing 6 wickets in total. What should have been a more comfortable victory turned into a 4 wicket victory by the Glenwood 1st XI. Considering that 2 key players were missing, I am pleased with the performance and it allows the Glenwood unit to build on its momentum for the pivotal game against Hilton in the 40/40 Sunfoil Limited overs competition on Thursday.
The next week will see the “Baggy greens” play 3 games in three different formats of the game. Kingsway on Tuesday in the 20/20, Hilton in the 40/40 Day/Night and Northwood in the 50/50 KZN domestic season. With all games being important, the week ahead will be a testing time for the 1st XI.
We hope to maintain and build upon the winning rhythm and confidence and look forward to some tough, competitive fixtures.
Mr M Labuschagne
Mr A Slabbert