NWU-Pukke remain undefeated as they beat UWC by six wickets on Wednesday at Senwes Park in round two of the Varsity Cricket tournament.
The visitors from the Western Cape, UWC, won the toss and elected to bat first.
A perfect first over by NWU-Pukke’s bowler Wihan Lubbe put the home side in a favourable position as he took two early wickets, that of Adrian Du Toit (0) and Luke Philander (0) putting UWC in a very uncomfortable position with 1/2 after 0.5 overs on the scoreboard.
Captain Wihan Lubbe took another one for the home side- to end of Zubayr Hamza (0) with the scoreboard at 6/3 after three overs. UWC’s Tayo Walbrugh was still going strong in the middle when Aaqil Ebrahim joined him. Jovuan van Wyngaardt followed in the footsteps of his captain and took the wicket of Aaqil Ebrahim (0) with a great catch by Edrich Lubbe to end his innings with a duck.
Jean Heunis hoped to support Tayo Walbrugh at the crease as they put UWC 34/4 up after 7.1 overs. What looked like a catch quickly turned into a runout with NWU-Pukke’s crafty wicket keeper Edrich Lubbe running out the batsman after the umpire signalled no ball, and Walbrugh (26) was sent to the changing room with 26 runs off 29 balls.
Matthew joined the bowling party in style when he bowled both Zain Allie (4) and CWJ Fortune (0) which put him at a hat-trick attempt. With a closing attempt, Matthew managed to restrict UWC to a score of 57/7 after 11 overs.
After the two quick wickets, the new batsman Dawood Christians joined Jean Heunis out in the middle to put UWC 71/7 up at the end of the 14th over.
Ruan Haasbroek bagged the eighth wicket of Jean Heunis (24) for the NWU-Pukke which left UWC 77/8 after 15 overs.
Warren Stoman, the new batsman up for UWC with Dawood Christians, called for the Powerplay Plus over and secured a score of 81/8 after 16 overs.
Dawood Christians (16) was runout by the NWU-Pukke side to leave the UWC boys with a score of 109/9 after 18 overs. Lizaad Williams (3) saw UWC to a final score of 130/9 after 20 overs.
NWU-Pukke needed 131 runs to win as Wihan Lubbe and Janneman Malan opened the batting. UWC’s Lizaad Williams with the safe hands of Dawood Christians claimed their first wicket of Janneman Malan (2) which put NWU-Pukke 18/1 up after 3.5 overs.
A superb catch by UWC’s Chad Fortune sent the captain of the home side Wihan Lubbe (31) off the field with 31 runs off 22 balls. NWU-Pukke were 38/2 after 5.3 overs on the scoreboard.
With a great catch by Jean Heunis, UWC got the wicket of Marques Ackerman (8) to add a wicket to the NWU-Pukke’s score of 41/3 after 6.1 overs.
Ruan Haasbroek and Edrich Lubbe built a partnership of 28 runs out in the middle before Haasbroek (13) ended his innings with 13 runs off 10 balls.
But it was the 63-run partnership of Hanco Olivier (13) and Edrich Lubbe (53) that kept the NWU-Pukke undefeated in this year’s tournament so far, after round three.
The NWU-Pukke won by 6 wickets with 26 balls remaining.
FNB Best Bowler of the Match Award: Wihan Lubbe (NWU-Pukke)
Samsung Player of the Match: Wihan Lubbe (NWU-Pukke)
Steers Best Batsman of the Match: Edrich Lubbe (NWU-Pukke)
By Raynique Meyer
