On Sunday, Groot Drak hosted a highly-skilled Cape Town Cricket Club Rhinos side that featured several prominent players involved in the upcoming Over 50s World Cup.
Damien Thornton and ex-Protea batsman, Louis Koen, opened the batting for CTCC and saw off the pace-men upfront, putting on a slow but steady partnership that had the visitors without loss at the first drinks break. Corrie Brand and Liam Carruthers both bowled very tightly, but neither could pick up a wicket with their 7 over spells.
After drinks, Morne Maritz worked some magic by nabbing both opening batsmen, as well as trapping David Thornton in front to finish with arguably Groot Drak’s best bowling performance of the day: 3 for 29 from 7. Danie van der Nest also put in some hard work, ending up with very miserly figures of 1/15 from 7 – picking up the valuable scalp of Alan Dawson!
Claude Chantler and Kudu Kotze each picked up a stick, but went for a few runs as Anwell Newman smashed an unbeaten 54 fom 50 balls to see the visitors post a respectable 177 runs from their 35 overs.
Expecting a good fight from some experienced quick bowlers, the Groot Drak top order padded up and awaited their fate.
Wickets fell with alarming regularity, with batters 2, 3, 4 and 5 only managing 10 runs between them. MC Uys was resolute at the top of the order, however, anchoring the innings, while scoring rapidly at the same time. Henry Williams showed exactly why he’s in the squad for the Over 50s World Cup by nibbling the ball around at extreme pace – picking up Liam Carruthers and Claude Chantler for ducks.
Morne Maritz joined MC at the crease and put on a very handy 35 from 36 before being bowled by Louis Koen.
Two more ducks followed immediately and Groot Drak were in serious trouble – and not for the first time in the game!
Corrie Brand came out to bat with MC Uys still soldiering on, having recently gone to his 50. Corrie made the bowling look easy as he clobbered 22* from 18 balls, while MC (95* from 86) was unbeaten just 5 runs short of what would have been a fitting century, before the final runs were scored to secure an unlikely victory for Groot Drak.
A fantastic challenge and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most of the local boys. An experience that we were all very grateful for!
A few beers were enjoyed during a well-deserved fines meeting after what was a massively enjoyable game and a day that very few of us will forget.
Man of the Match: MC Uys
Lifesaver: Morne Maritz
TFC: Claude Chantler
Match report by Craig McNaught
