Maties came agonisingly short of recording their first win of Varsity Cricket when they went down to UJ by three runs.
It was UJ’s second win of the day, after they made light work of UWC earlier.
Momentum changed throughout the game, but it was great bowling in the last two overs that ultimately won UJ the game
UJ’s opening partnership of Delano Potgieter and Yaseen Valli got off to an explosive start with the bat, registering 106 runs in the first 10 overs. The Maties bowlers had no answer to break-up the partnership
Maties bowlers Sizwe Mtehmbu and Justin Dill were paertucularly expensive being knocked for bewteen 10 and 15 runs an over in their first two overs. It was only in the 13th over that Maties made a breakthrough, when Niel Botha got the dangerous Potgieter out for 53 with a stumping with the help of Jean Bredenkamp
Dewald Botha and Bredenkamp then combined to stump Valli on 49 just two overs later, but UJ had already amassed a total of 133 by the 15th over. Although both new to the crease, captain Neels Bergh and Grant Roelofsen continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
Niel Botha who was the pick of the Maties’ bowlers got Roelofsen out in the 17th over and and Harry van Straaten in the 19th over, but couldn’t dispatch captain Bergh, whose quickfire 30 off 19 balls helped UJ to a competitive total of 181/4.
Maties got off to a similar start in their innings with Jean Bredenkamp and Jean Marais starting off like a house on fire with 64 runs in their partnership after 6.5 overs before Bredenkamp was bowled by Van Straaten.
David Bedingham came to the crease and continued where Bredenkamp left off. However the new partnership was shortlived as Itumeleng Moseki claimed the wicket of Marais and after ten overs Maties were 88/2.
Dewald Botha came and steadied the partnership with Bedingham to provide Maties with a platform to win it. However, key wickets in the last four overs derailed Maties chances who only managed 178/6.
Scores:
UJ: 181/4 (D Potgieter 53,Y Valli 49; N Botha 3/24, D Botha 1/26)
Maties: 178/6 (J Bredenkamp 41, D Botha 36;N Mvelase 2/25,H van Straaten 2/33)
Teams:
Maties: David Bedingham, Byron Boshoff, Dewald Botha (captain), Niel Botha, Jean Bredenkamp, Justin Dill, Leon le Roux, Jean Marais, Sizwe Mthembu, Nicholas Scholtz, Edward Schutte.
UJ: Neels Bergh (captain), Grant Roelofsen, Yaseen Valli, Ndumiso Mvelase, Delano Potgieter, Umar Asad, Keith Dudgeon, Harry Van Straaten, Jayden Broodryk, Matthew Varner, Itumeleng Moseki.
