Hosts NWU-Puk put in a clinical performance in their final round robin match at Senwes Park, when they took on NMMU on Friday afternoon. NWU-Puk posted a mammoth 218/3 as captain Wihan Lubbe top scoring with 92.
With NWU-Puk’s captain being the man in form with the bat, it was going to be a tough task for the Madibaz bowlers to keep him quiet and indeed it proved to be so.
NWU-Puk found themselves at 91/0 after 10 overs with Lubbe hitting the ball to all corners of the field. As much as NMMU interchanged their bowlers to try and get the breakthrough, nothing seemed to work. Lubbe in particular, wasn’t bothered.
Finally the breakthrough came in the 12th over, as Brown got rid of Friends for 46 off 35 balls. Haasbroek joined Lubbe on the pitch, the score at 115/1.
The Power Plus over was called in the 16th over and Lubbe cashed in. The score jumped to 183 with three overs remaining. Lubbe eventually fell an agonising eight short of what would have been a well-deserved century.
NMMU’s Henco Vorstman toppled Lubbe’s bails and soon got a second in the over. NMMU would have been relieved when NWU-Puk’s innings came to an end, setting 219 for victory – a daunting task for NMMU.
The men from PE had their run chase hampered by the fall of regular wickets. Just in case there was any doubt as to who the man of the match would be, Lubbe added a miserly 2/6 with the ball and took a magnificent catch. In the end Lubbe deservedly walked away with three of the four post-match awards.
NMMU were eventually skittled out for 131, leaving them 87 runs short of their target. Pukke are in fine form heading into the semi-finals on Saturday. Can anybody stop Lubbe and his Potch army?
FNB Best Bowler: Wihan Lubbe (NWU-Puk)
Edgars Active Best Batsman: Wihan Lubbe (NWU-Puk)
Steers Best Catch: Marques Ackerman (NWU-Puk)
Samsung Man of the Match: Wihan Lubbe (NWU-Puk)
By Ike Bam
