At last year’s Varsity Cricket tournament, UJ came, saw and were conquered by eventual champions Tuks just one step away from the final. This year, the Joburgers are again jolling just fine, thank you.
Five games into the tournament, one of them washed out, they are the only unbeaten team in town and thus topped the log heading into the last day of round-robin matches on Friday.
Most of the credit for UJ’s early success this year belonged to their batsmen. But, on Thursday, their bowlers were asked to do the winning – and did.
“Until Wednesday, yes, you could say our batsmen were the reason we were doing well,” UJ coach Richard das Neves said. “But, in our two games on Thursday, the bowlers really came to the party. I spoke to them on Wednesday night and asked them to step up and they did.”
In their first game on Thursday, against the Madibas from PE, UJ put up a mediocre 143/6 – their lowest total of the week. None of their batsmen escaped the dirty 30s on the scorecard.
Right, bowlers; over to you.
Step up they duly did, sending their opponents packing for a thanks-for-coming 108 like bouncers in a dodgy nightclub.
New-ball bowler Chad Classen was tighter than a loan shark in keeping the runs down to nine in his three overs, while the left-arm slow poison of Harry van Straaten and Delano Potgieter’s slippery seam were good for five wickets between them.
But one win does not a champion attack make. Happily for UJ’s bowlers, then, they added another arrow to their quiver in their second game on Thursday by starving Pukke’s batting line-up to a total of 143/8. This time, Keith Dudgeon’s piercing pace did the business with a haul of 3/24.
UJ put their target out of its misery with 14 balls to spare. Clearly, Potgieter’s undefeated 88 off 57 balls was too hot for Pukke’s bowlers to handle.
Importantly, UJ’s players are sharing the responsibility for staying on the victory path – a vital aspect in a tournament where the games come thick and fast.
Ryan Rickelton and Yasser Cook have also scored half-centuries, while Van Straaten and Dudgeon have taken six and five wickets respectively.
But you won’t find any UJ players at or even near the top of MVP charts, a testament to their overall strength.
“In an event like this, you’ve really got to make good use of your squad,” Das Neves said. “We’re getting the most out of our 14 players.”
All of UJ’s men have had at least two of their completed games. Four have played in three matches and the remaining eight have turned out in all four of their games.
Finding the balance between keeping the key players involved and rotating the rest is a crucial skill for coaches. If you imagine a cricket team as a car, this is not unlike understanding that you don’t replace the pistons unless you absolutely have to, but you know that the tyres must be changed regularly. And you need both the pistons and the tyres in good, working order if you are going to stay on the road.
UJ’s engine is purring and Das Neves and his squad are in top gear and driving into what they hope will be a golden Jozi sunset.
“We had a double-header on Thursday and hopefully we’ll have two more games after Friday – the semi-final and the final,” he said.
Joburg jollers, hey: big talk and, often, even bigger action.
By Telford Vice
