GRAAFF-REINET NEWS — On Friday afternoon, October 13, Union’s U.15 cricket team played a 20/20 match against Joubertina, who won the toss and put Union in to bat first.
James Pienaar 76* and James Pringle* retired in the 13th and 15th overs respectively. Bowen Langmead scored 19 runs and Brett Amsterdam 22 not out, which took the score to 209 for 1.
Union’s boys restricted Joubertina to 47 for 7 in their 20 overs. Most of the boys got to bowl two overs each, with James Pringle taking 3 wickets for 2, Kwezi Simon 1 for 3, Lihle Mxhunyelwa 1 for 6 and a stumping by Michael-Joe Newton off the bowling of Jarrod Naude.
Union won by 162 runs.
A 50 over match was played against Joubertina on Saturday, where Union was again asked to bat first. In a reversed batting order, the Union boys scored 306 for 8 in 40 overs. The following boys retired once they reached 50: Lihle Mxhunyelwa (54*), Jarrod Naude (52*) and Bowen Langmead (54* in 18 balls). Other contributions came from Kwezi Simon with 20 runs, Kyle-Luke du Preez (29) and James Pringle (18).
Just before lunch Joubertina started their batting innings and were bowled out in the 13th over for 39 runs. Best bowlers were Kwezi Simon (3/7), Bowen Langmead (1/5), Kyle-Luke du Preez (1/1) and Khanya Butshingi (3/1).
Union won by 267 runs.
U.13 vs Grey Primary
Grey won the toss, elected to bat and the Union boys bowled them out for 167 in the 33rd over. This might have been reduced considerably had Union held their catches and displayed more discipline with their lines and lengths. Union conceded 63 extras, which meant they kept undoing any pressure built and allowed the Grey scoreboard to keep ticking over. In hindsight, Union could easily have bowled Grey out for under 100 runs.
Hlaki Skepe, Laythan Carelse, Rhuze Hendriks and Kwande Mhlabeni each took 2 wickets. Matthew Basson took 1 wicket.
An inability to occupy the crease resulted in Union being bowled out for 60 runs. Matthew Basson put up a good fight and top scored with 28.
Despite losing by 107 runs, the team showed a huge improvement from previous years.
U.11A vs Grey Junior U.11B
Union's U.11A team played a 40 over match against Grey Junior’s U.11Bs. Grey won the toss and elected to bat. Union took two early wickets through Shakir Kasi and Cullum Marais, and placed the pressure solidly on Grey. Grey managed to put together a good partnership, which reversed the pressure. The Union bowlers managed to keep their discipline and consistently attacked the wickets, bowling 8 batsmen clean. The bowlers complimented each other and should feel very proud in restricting Grey Junior to 133 all out.
The top bowlers were Shakir Kasi, who took 3 wickets for 30 runs in 6.4 overs, Cullum Marais, 3 for 20 in 7 overs, Dylan Kivedo, 2 for 33 in 6 overs and Cameron Swarts who took 1 for 40 in 2 overs.
The Union team started their run chase through Cameron Swarts and Peter Michaels. They settled nicely at the crease and kept the scoreboard ticking. Grey brought on a spinner who gave Union’s batsmen a tough time. Despite losing wickets at regular intervals, Union stayed ahead of the required run-rate. Cullum Marais batted very well for his 30 runs and a gutsy batting display by Junior Kedemeli and Thokozani Mpanza saw Union home. The top batsmen were Cullum Marais with 30 runs, Dylan Kivedo with 18 and Thokozani Mpanza with 10 not out
Union won the match by 2 wickets.
'We bring you the latest Graaff-Reinet, Karoo news'
