The Steinhoff Maties and Assupol TUKS have both secured their place in the final of the Cricket South Africa (CSA) National Club Championships when they finished Day Five on the top of their respective logs on Friday. The day was full of big victories as teams went all out for their final day of round-robin matches in the tournament.
Maties beat United Cricket Club (CC) by a compelling 107 runs when they met in Pretoria. Maties won the toss and batted first, posting 203 runs before they were bowled out after 48.1 overs. Lenert van Wyk scored a half century while Henno Jordaan scored 42 runs. United’s batsmen were no match for the Maties bowlers as Carl Raubenheimer took an impressive three wickets for 15 runs while Nathan Roberts took 3/32. United were bowled out for 96 in 22.4 overs.
Graeme van Buuren once again had a good day with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 85 runs along with Ernest Kemm’s 74 to help TUKS to 269/5 after being put in to bat by University of the Western Cape (UWC) . Francois le Clus and Douglas Hewitt did well to chip in with 38 and 36 runs respectively. UWC were bowled out for 168 runs to give TUKS a 101-run victory and cement their place in the final on Saturday. TUKS are the only unbeaten side of the competition, topping the Section Two log with 23 points, way ahead of runner up, UWC who finished their competition on 13 points.
The TIB Crusaders CC recorded their first victory of the competition when they beat KIA CUT CC by a narrow 10 runs. The Crusaders posted 255/8 in 50 overs after winning the toss and batting first. Sean Dixon headed up the run scoring with 73 runs while Robert Clift added a valuable knock of 47 runs to the board to get the competitive total. Johan van Schalkwyk and Desmond de Koker had a good match, scoring 77 and 57 runs each to give the Crusaders a scare in the run chase. CUT unfortunately could not keep their wickets and were eventually bowled out for 245 in 47.3 overs.
The Horseshoe Kempton Park bounced back from their defeat yesterday and beat Union Stars CC by an emphatic 73 runs. Wesley Marshall scored the only century of the day, getting 116 runs before his dismissal to lead KemptonPark to 156/10 in 37 overs. Rhupino Plaatjies took an incredible 5/24 in eight overs to restrict them. Union Stars unfortunately could not reply in kind, they managed 83 runs before they were bowled out thanks to Hardus Viljoen and Johan Fourie who took four wickets each. Kempton Park finished in second place on the Section One log.
Defending champions, the Mecer Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Madibaz suffered their second straight defeat, this time to North West PUKKE when they were beaten by four wickets to finish at a disappointing second from last place in the Section Two log.
The Steel & Pipe/DDCM West End CC had yet another bad game when the Philips Glenvista CC beat them by six wickets to finish bottom of the Section One log.
CSA Senior Cricket Manager, Max Jordaan is very happy with the standard of play produced by the participating teams in spite of the sometimes dreary weather, he said: “The start of the 2012 National Club Champs presented its challenges this week as the overcast conditions demanded application and adeptness from the batsmen. As the weather stabilised, the scores improved. Good performances were achieved by many teams as a collective and some individuals excelled. At least two centuries scored were matched by two five wicket hauls. Congratulations to all of the recipients of the man of the match awards. Good luck to the finalists in tomorrow’s match.”
Maties and TUKS meet for the championship title decider at Super Sport Parki n Centurion on Saturday at 9:30am, entrance is free.
