Traditionally, cricket is only played with a red ball. More recent tradition allows a white one too. Traditionally, cricket does not include a Power Plus over. More recent tradition includes fielding restrictions in certain passages of play. Traditionally, when cricket starts, music stops. More recent tradition makes space for some sounds, between overs only. But the Varsity Cricket tournament is not about those traditions. It is about making brand new ones.
This year’s event once again made use of the pink ball, albeit only for one over. Not just any over: the Power Plus over. For those six balls every run scored was doubled and every wicket taken cost the batting side more than just a man but five runs. All that happened to a soundtrack that screamed summer and there were even people dancing to those tunes. The cricketers competed alongside their varsities’ cheerleaders to create a mix of sport and entertainment made for the modern viewer.
Perhaps the only bit that did not add up was that the winning cheerleading squad, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, could not motivate their men to pull off more than two wins from their seven games. At least that meant there was enough success to go around.
University of Johannesburg enjoyed the honours in the round-robin stage, They won six games in succession after their first match was washed out and were the only undefeated side ahead of the knockouts. They even beat the defending champions, Tuks, on the eve of finals day and would have fancied themselves to take the crown off them.
But, UJ would not have expected to run into a UWC side on a hot-streak, especially as the Cape Town teams did not appear to have adjusted to up-country pace. UCT did not a manage a single victory and UWC lost half their games leading up to an unofficial quarterfinal against Maties.
The Stellenbosch side recovered from two losses from their opening two games to beat UFS and hand the title-holders, Tuks, an almighty scare when they bowled them out for 92 to put themselves on track for the knockouts. Maties had one foot in finals day but they had forgotten that pressure can sometimes bring out the best in people. It did exactly that to UWC, who chased down 201 to record the upset of the week and become the only new faces in the semis.
The other three teams – a trio of Highveld-based teams -, UJ and Pukke, were in the semis last year and given their location, could call on some local support. Pukke, the hosts, had the entire student population of the Potchefstroom at their disposal. They occupied Senwes Park, where the Rag party overflowed into finals day and stayed even when their team bowed out. At least, Pukke could call the highest run-scorer their own. Opening batsman Wihan Lubbe (338 runs) scored three more runs than Tuks’ Eddie Jones (335 runs), although Jones was the only century-maker in the tournament. His father was in attendance to cheer him on.
Tuks also had the highest wicket-taker on their books. Vincent Moore’s 13 scalps topped the charts and spoke to the professionalism of a side that comes from a place where, traditionally, a large part of South Africa’s sporting prowess lies.
That tradition has not changed. Tuks have retained their national title for the third time and will travel to Sri Lanka to play against the best student teams from around the world. If the tradition of the last two years holds, they may return as world champions again.
By Firdose Moonda
