Friendly against GoodHope Finally we were well prepared on this day. The team looked confident and eager for their second win this season. Goodhope having in-fights made us more confident on the day. I Leander (Baas) and T Hammond opening the day for us with the bat on the GEMSA grounds. T Hammond failed for the second time this season brought S. Hawkins to the crease. There was no stop to this partnership. Hawkins went for 39 runs after a series of classic shots played. Baas made 48 runs this time and was very dissappointed by missing his first 50 by two runs. This was going to be the first 50 runs by a batsman of Bethelsdorp Extension CC for the season. Towards the end Randy Mapoe came in and hit a quick 18 runs of 4 balls pushing our total to 155 runs in our 20 overs. Bethelsdorp Extension CC Vs Gelvandal CC, 14th February 2010, Gelvan Grounds We went in to bat first on this Sunday afternoon with I Leander and captain S Houlie opening the batting on a slow Gelvandale wicket. Gelvandale being the best club in the Eastern Province. There was tension amongst the players and officials due to some undisciplinary behaviour by some of our players prior the match. The start was good between the formidable opening pair of the season at the crease. Dissappointedly I Leander lost his wicket for only 23 runs. In came S Hawkins and the runs continued flowing. At one stage it looked asif these two batsmen were going to finish the 20 overs. Hawkins lost his wicket for 22 runs and was immediately followed by his captain who made 25 runs. After these batsmen departed no good partnership could be established by the lower order batsmen. We were eventually bowled out for only 113 runs. The captain S Houlie and his brother Geowandre opened the bowling for us. Gelvandale batsmen were never relaxed and confident but made use of the pace of our fast bowlers to score runs. This was a mistake to use fast bowlers on a slow pitch and were nearly realised too late by the captain. The President of Bethelsdorp Extension Cricket Club intervened and instructed a bowling change. S Hawkins spinned from the one end and I Leander from the other end. This worked out fruitfully when Hawkins picked up a quick 4 wickets and 1 by I Leander. Randy Mapoe our second spell pace bowler also bowled well and picked up two wickets. A remarkable catch was taken by A Meshaka at silly point. This sealed the match as Gelvandale's low order batting lineup collapsed. Gelvandal fought to the end but was eventually bowled out for 87 runs. |
Bethelsdorp Extension CC Vs Nomathamsanqa CC, Motherwell, 27 February 2010 Nomathamsanqa were third on the log at this stage and were going to be a tough side to beat coming all the way from Addo. Mr Meshaka (President) and Mr Felix (Vice-President) visited the pitch the previous day as part of the batting plan for the game. We won the toss and elected to bat. This was a nerve wrecking day as most of the key players like A Meshaka, S Hawkins, R Mapoe, G Houlie, R Baatjies and J Bowers were not available for the game. This weakened team never looked like loosers. Opening batsmen I Leander and T Hammond went to the crease and laid a solid foundation. They were batting slow but were never troubled by the bowlers. T Hammond lost his wicket for 22 runs and Leander followed him with 24 runs. C Maliba and J Peterson looked good at the crease after L Wellington went for a duck. D Felix came in for his first match of the season. He looked rusted but after a few balls it could be seen that he was hitting the ball cleanly and didn't waste anytime. After a few balls to him one of the balls dissapeared out of the stadium when he hit a gigantic six. This was by far the biggest six of the season. Peterson made 18 and Felix 22 not out with the teams total of 132/4 in 18 overs. Nomathansaqa's batsmen at the crease did not look convincing but they managed not to loose their wickets. The opening partnership went well for them as they were using our pace men to score runs on a slow and soft pitch. Opening bowler L Wellington did not compliment the good bowling of B Meshaka, maybe it wasn't his day. As pace bowler B Meshaka did expentionally well when this important task of opening bowler was given to him.It wasn't a wicket for fast bowlers but he kept his economy rate at 3 runs per over. C Maliba bowled a very beautiful line and pace and picked up two wickets each with J Peterson. Man of the match was undoubtly R Naidoo that bowled Nomathamsanqa into pieces, picking up a record 5 wickets for only 9 runs in 19 balls bowled. Our oponents were bowled out for 92 runs. Bethelsdorp Extension CC Vs Malabar CC, 20th March 2010, Malabar Grounds We again batted first with our destructive opening pair of the season. The start wasn't good when our top batsman I Leander was runout for a duck in the first over without facing a ball. A Meshaka our number three batsman came to the crease to steady the Gayleforce ship. The runs came difficult as the pitch was slow. The captain then mishit the ball into the air and lost his wicket in the fourth over. His brother came in and only made a run. The destroying D Felix came in and started his third innings of the season, whilst A Meshaka steadied the ship for the third time in the season eventhough he is not comfortable batting at this position. Well with this two at the crease Malabar didn't had a chance. D Felix hit the bowlers all over the park for sixes(7) and fours(5). Only luck on the Malabar side gave them the wicket of A Meshaka that played a deserving innings of 24 runs. O Smith came to the crease and played a matured role by just rotating the strike for D Felix to finish Malabar off. D Felix hit 75 runs of 31 balls. I would think that this is a record for a Bethelsdorp player. O Smith and R Mapoe made 8 and 1 not out. Our total was 133/5 in 20 overs where the umpires deducted 20 runs for which, only they will know. With Malabar at the crease not even the umpires could help them with their deduction of our runs. We used five pace bowlers and all of them were on target with D Felix being marginally the quickest of them all and also bowling the only maiden of the match. The bowlers showed no mercy and wanted to finish the match within 10 overs. I Leander had it difficult behind the wicket with the fearsome generating of pace by our bowlers and bowling from wicket to wicket. If the batsman misses they hit, that is now if the batsman can see the ball. R Houlie, D Felix, R Mapoe and B Meshaka all got two wickets each with only R Baatjies with one wicket. The best figures of these bowlers were R Houlie with 3.1 overs conceeding only 6 runs. Malabar were bowled out for a poor 58 runs. |
