UP-Tuks continued their unbeaten start to Varsity Cricket by handing UJ their first defeat of the tournament.
Both teams won both of their games on the opening day on Tuesday, but it was the tournament favourites UP-Tuks who claimed an eight run victory in the end.
UP-Tuks won the toss and got off to a solid start, with both openers finding the boundary regularly early on.
Murray Coetzee was first to fall when he was caught behind off Itumeleng Moseki for 26, and the UJ bowler got Jacques Snyman for just three runs in his next over to reduce UP-Tuks to 64/2 after eight overs.
That did not seem to deter Aiden Markram who continued to take the game to UJ, and went on to reach his half-century with good support from Johan Wessels who scored at a run a ball and fed him the strike.
Markram became Moseki’s next victim shortly after going to his milestone, which brought skipper Heinrich Klaasen to the wicket, and there were soon two new batsmen at the crease when Wessels was caught for 26 off the bowling of Ndumiso Mvelase.
UJ tightened things up nicely towards the end, with Matthew Varner picking up two late wickets to restrict them to 150/6 at the end of their innings.
UP-Tuks struck early in the UJ response, with Lungi Ngidi removing Delano Potgieter for just six runs, and his fellow opener Lee Gruskin joined him in the sheds before long having been trapped LBW by Snyman for 17.
They were under further pressure when Corbin Bosch ended the innings of Grant Roelofsen for just five, which left UJ 28/3 after five overs and facing an uphill battle.
Harry van Straaten and Izak Bergh set about rebuilding for the Johannesburg side, but they suffered a further setback when Markram made his mark with the ball by bowling Van Straaten to leave UJ 49/4 at the halfway stage.
The wickets continued to tumble as Bergh was caught behind off Ruben Claassen, leaving the UJ tail needing 97 runs off the last nine overs.
Jayden Broodryk and Umar Asad managed to put together a good partnership, and started finding the boundary to give UJ a realistic shot at chasing the total down, but their hopes took a big blow when Broodryk was bowled by Bosch for 37 off 24 balls.
Bosch picked up his third when he had Mvelase caught in his final over to finish with impressive figures of 3/22 as UJ finished their innings on 142/8 with Asad unbeaten on 37.
Scores:
UP-Tuks: 150/6 (A Markram 53, J Wessels 26; I Moseki 3/28, M Varner 2/31)
UJ: 142/8 (U Asad 37*, J Broodryk 37; C Bosch 3/22, L Ngidi 1/13)
Teams:
UP Tuks: Murray Coetzee, Vincent Moore, Ruben Claassen, Heinrich Klaasen (captain), Evan Jones, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Johan Wessels, Jacques Snyman, Corbin Bosch, Bantu Dandala.
UJ: Neels Bergh (captain), Grant Roelofsen, Ndumiso Mvelase, Delano Potgieter, Umar Asad, Lee Gruskin, Harry Van Straaten, Jayden Broodryk, Matthew Varner, Damien Hutchinson, Itumeleng Moseki.
