On Saturday the 29th of February, Groot Drak were visited by the seniors from Surrey.
Kindly honouring the Groot Drak tradition of batting first on what looked like a great pitch, the Surrey lads padded up and got the game underway.

Craig McNaught (0/19 from 7) and Colin Myburgh (2/12 from 8) opened the bowling, both keeping the batsmen very quiet. Colin picked up both the openers for 3 a piece, putting immediate pressure on the visitors.

Newcomer, Brendan van Zyl picked up a wicket coming on first change for 21 from his 5 overs, while Matthew Tracey made his welcome return to the club and bowled 4 overs for 24. Handro Slabber toiled hard in his 5 overs – bowling well for 28 runs. Robbie Izzard (0/28 from 4) also joined in on the action, bowling some very tidy away swing in his spell.

Wickets were hard to come by in the middle overs, but Surrey had not yet experienced Groot Drak’s secret weapon, The Bruce.
While a touch expensive, Bruce Taylor (5/53 from 7) managed to deceive plenty of batters, snatching a five-for from the last ball of the innings, with a sharp stumping from keeper, Jono Boulton. It could easily have been 7 wickets, if a few more chances had been taken in the field, but this is friendly cricket after all.

Surrey had posted 193 for victory from their 40 over allotment.

A quick lunch break and Surrey were ready to salute the flag with the mandatory Brandy shot to lubricate the joints before taking the field once again.

A promising start from Colin Myburgh saw 3 balls from the first over get dispatched to the boundary, before missing a straight one, precipitating a top order collapse from Groot Drak, with Paul Higginbottom (6 from 8), Jono Boulton (8 from 22) and Darren Pilz (0 from 3) departing far too early in the game.

Matthew Tracey looked like he hadn’t in fact taken an 8 year break from cricket as he blitzed a very valuable 38 from 29 in an attempt to stabilize the innings somewhat. Craig McNaught joined him at the crease and was determined to not give his wicket away.

Morne Landman got bowled past the outside edge for a duck, bringing Bruce Taylor to the crease to join the skipper.
Bruce played an out-of-character innings, showing great restraint from the good balls and punishing the loose deliveries. Bruce scored a very well-played 30 from 36 before opposing skipper, Ken Mead (6/22), brought himself back in to the attack and trapped Bruce LBW. Ken would go on to wrap up the innings, claiming Rob Izzard, Brendan van Zyl and Handro Slabber for ducks, leaving Craig McNaught stranded on 56 not out at the other end.

Groot Drak were bowled out 31 runs short of victory in what could have been a much tighter game had there not been 5 ducks from the Drakies, as there were still 10 overs left in the innings! However, the bowling from Surrey was just too good!

Both teams enjoyed a quick beer on the pitch before retiring to the clubhouse for some highly entertaining fines. After a lovely quintessential South African braai, the captains shared a last word of thanks, a few glasses of wine and some memorabilia to close out what was a hugely enjoyable day for all involved.

We look forward to hosting the wonderful men (and ladies!) from Surrey again in the very near future!

Man of the Match: Bruce Taylor (Groot Drak), Ken Mead (Surrey Over 50s)
TFC: Morne Landman

Match report by Craig McNaught

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

Wednesday the 5th of Feb saw the club in action against The Southern Cavaliers – a touring team all the way from Washington DC. Fielding a midweek team can be challenging, especially in harvest time, so it was a good opportunity to get some new faces on the pitch. Debutant member, Hadro Slabber, did well and we were grateful to 1st Class Cricketer and Maties coach, Ryan Bailey, for helping us out as well. After having our traditions explained, the tourists padded up and Groot Drak took to the field. We were very quickly aware of the fact that these lads travelling 12,705 km meant business! All their batsmen contributed, but the feisty Kushal Reddy hit a classy 68 off 61 and veteran Keeper Harry Low finished off their innings with an impressive switch hit for 4 off the last ball taking the visitors to 239.The pick of Groot Drak’s bowling was Claudia Chandler who took 1 wicket in his 7 overs going for just 20 runs.

Everyone’s fielding and catching was actually faultless and mentions deserve to go to Darren Pilz whose efforts saved countless runs and Craig McNaught’s 3 great catches in the outfield.

After a little top order jitter that had whites being put back on quicker than was expected, Groot Drak’s batting settled down nicely. Solid contributions by Jaco Swarts 39 off 35, Ryan Bailey 33 off 22, Jono Boulton 37 off 46 and Jannes Mouton 48 from 53 had the total column looking good but overs left to reach the target not pleasing on the eye at all! With the required run rate creeping up all the time, the skipper, Craig McNaught (45 not out), headed out needing around 10 an over. Some brutal boundaries coupled with some clever strategic running between the wickets to keep the strike saw him hit the winning runs with just on ball to go – as they say, you cant write that stuff!

Fines as always was a hoot, the roast lamb at dinner made even better accompanied by several gasses of Stony Brook wine, and aching bodies and heads the following day signalling yet another hugely successful day of cricket at Groot Drak!

Match report by Jono Boulton

Always a highly-anticipated fixture for Groot Drak is the occasional visit by the Forty Club from the UK.
After the visitors were stuck on the N1 for over 2 hours, the game’s start was delayed by an hour. Mercifully, the game was also reduced to 35 overs from the intended 40, which was a blessing because of the scorching heat!

The Forty Club were asked to bat first and against a rare new-ball combo of Craig McNaught and Jacques Viljoen.
Craig picked up two wickets for 13 runs from 5 overs, while Jacques was forced to bowl his quota, finishing with 1 wicket for 47 runs from his 7.

Ian Rippongal was dropped on 0, which proved costly as he went on to score 79 from 71 before being bowled by Claude Chantler, who claimed 2 wickets for 27 from his 7 over spell.

Angus Simmers kept things very tidy with his offies, going for 23 from his 6 overs, while debutants Darren Pilz (1 for 24 from 2) and Paul Hogginbottom (0 for 29 from 2) tried to wash off the rust while donating some big runs.

Groot Drak’s secret weapon, Bruce Taylor, was saved for the end of the innings and bowled a really impressive 6 over spell, claiming 3 wickets for just 22 runs – without a doubt the pick of the bowlers.

The Forty Club managed 4 ducks in their innings, but still got to a competitive total of 188 for 9 from their 35 over allotment.

After a quick gourment roll and some hydration, our guests saluted the flag and headed out to bowl.

Christo la Grange and Angus Simmers were tasked with opening the batting for Groot Drak and were resolute in their defense, handling the new ball with aplomb. Both batters timed their innings to perfection and took the Drakies to the first drinks break without losing a wicket. Christo managed 41 from 39 before being stumped just short of his first 50, while Angus retired on 50 from 63, bringing Bruce Taylor and Shayne Ayford to the crease.

Shayne smahsed a quick 20 from 16, followed by Darren Pilz and Claude Chantler who were both dismissed quickly.

Paul Hogginbottom only had to face one ball to knock off the winning runs, leaving Bruce Taylor, who batted brilliantly, stranded on 47 at the non-striker’s end. Bruce did more than enough to earn himself ‘Man-of-the-match’ for Groot Drak.

A particularly humourous fines meeting was enjoyed after a dip in the pool, before both teams donned their dinner gear and enjoyed a lovely lamb on the spit with some red wine. Some wonderful memories and friends were made before having to say goodbye to the Forties, while wishing them well on the rest of their tour.

We hope to see them back very, very soon!

Match report by Craig McNaught