The Groot Drak squad arrived punctually at the Boon Wallace Oval in Plumstead on Sunday 27th of November 2016, only to find out that the air-conditioning had broken! It was unanimous, regardless of the state of the pitch ( which was enough to make us all appreciate our amazing home-ground facilities all the more ) we knew we had to win the toss, and put the opposition into to field in the sweltering heat. Skipper, Bruce Taylor, unfortunately did not have lady luck on his side and it was chasing leather for us through the midday heat.
Cape Town Cricket Club as always fielded an extremely experienced side with many familiar faces. They batted all the way down and everyone contributed, no one more so than MC Laubscher who smashed an impressive 71 of 58 balls before being stumped, only because heat exhaustion had set in, thank goodness…! At one stage we thought we were staring down the barrel of a score of well over 200.
Some excellent bowling and catching at the death restricted the opposition to 193 for 8 after 35.
The chase was laboured, but young DJ Kotze steered the ship on, refusing to give away his wicket ( 40 runs off 78 ) suddenly there was a sniff as runs accumulated. Young wicket keeper/batsman Jono Boulton received an unlucky LBW decision while cruising along nicely ( 25 off 29) , to make way for the Pocket-sized Ninja. Roydon Adams set about the bowlers like a man possessed, smashing a swashbuckling ( 41* off 19 ) and into a nail biting finish, needing 8 off the last over with Ryan Stemmet falling just short with an excellent effort of 11 off 12. Losing by just 8 runs was a magnificent team effort showing nothing short of pure grit and guts from every single player.
Fines were excellent fun, hosted by CTCC, each player being paired with his opposite number in a beer down down and needless to say Groot Drak reigned supreme, obliterating the opposition. We can’t wait for the rematch and winning the double header next year.
MATCH REPORT FROM JONO BOULTON
