Unbelievable, breathtaking and unexpected. This is one way to describe the amazing match between Tuks and Maties. Tuks used the Powerplay Plus over to maximum effect to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, as they beat Maties by two wickets in a thriller at the Puk Oval on Thursday afternoon.
When Tukkies were 124/8, they needed more than 17 runs to the over, but Craig Kirsten was undeterred as he hit Niel Botha for 32 runs in the power play plus over to swing the game into Tuks’ favour.
Kirsten ended on 34 from 17 balls as he hit the winning boundary with four balls to spare to overhaul Maties’ 168/6. It was a win from nowhere as Tuks looked dead and buried. Tuks have now broken Maties’ undefeated record at this year’s tournament.
Maties won the toss and batted first as they aimed to put Tuks under pressure from ball one. Fritz de Beer and Tyler Smith made a solid start putting on 56 for the first wicket.
De Beer was oozing with confidence as he played some fantastic pull shots and late cut shots to the fence.
Tuks finally got the breakthrough from the pacey Kirsten who had Smith caught for 19. De Zorzi was in the action again as the Tuks captain took another catch, this time to dismiss Jean Bredenkamp for 9 off the bowling of Thomas Kaber.
This did not deter de Beer though, and together with Gerhard Erasmus they took the Tuks bowling to the sword with some big hitting. De Beer hit 75 from 62 balls before Blake Schraader got his wicket with his off-spin bowling. Schraader then struck in the same over as he got Erasmus for 16, stumped down the leg-side.
Gerhard Janse Van Vuuren and Niel Botha were brutal in the final over as they smashed Kirsten for massive sixes to lift the score to 168/6 in their 20 overs.
Maties continued momentum with the ball as opening bowlers Divan Odendaal and Justin Dill kept things tight in the mandatory power play.
Sean Phillips and Ivan Kriek got their eye in and they started hitting the middle of the bat regularly. Fenito Mehl then stepped up for Maties as he had Kriek stumped for 10 with the score on 39. Maties were jubilant as they could sense the game swinging in their direction.
Mehl was the key destroyer for Maties as he got the big scalp of Kaber as well for 8. Rubin Herman’s runout for 4 did not help the defending champions either as they reached 5/57 after 10 overs.
Blake Schraader was defiant though and kept Tuks in the game with a belligerent 47 before Justin Dill got the crucial breakthrough just before the Powerplay Plus over.
This was where Maties’ luck ended as Kirsten took control to win the match for Tuks in an unbelievable come-from-behind victory. Champion mentality is definitely still strong in this Tuks team.
Varsity Cricket at its best!
FNB Best Bowler: Fenito Mehl (Maties)
Samsung Man of the Match: Craig Kirsten (Tuks)
Steers Best Batsman: Fritz de Beer (Maties)
By Wouter Pienaar
