Boksburg shock Northerns in cricket premier league
“Not much to say, but we were poor today.”
Those were the words of Benoni Northerns Cricket Club’s (BNCC) Premier XI skipper, Kurt Francis, after his side was humbled by 22 runs, at the hands of Boksburg Cricket Club, at Northern Areas, on Sunday, October 18.
It’s clichéd, but as the saying goes: “Cricket is a funny old game”, and the defending champions learned that the hard way on Sunday, particularly in their batting innings.
Having won a second successive coin toss in as many weeks, Francis asked his opponents to bat first on a Northerns strip that was flat and provided little for their quick bowlers.
Boksburg’s opening batsman, club stalwart and big hitter John Haywood, lived up to his reputation with a top score of 67 runs.
Northerns’ Mark Robey (3/28 in 8.5 overs) and Charl Steyn (3/22 in eight overs) were the best of the home side’s bowlers, while Lance Humphrey, Stiaan Jordaan and Rhenier Jordaan each bagged a wicket to bowl their guests out in the 46th over for 175 runs.
The defending league champions were, on paper, expected to chase down the 176-run target with little fuss and relative ease, but, like their rocky yet winning chase versus Duduza the previous week, the Northerns batsmen again made life difficult for themselves, as poor shot selection saw the batting order crumble to give the newly promoted Boksburg XI an unexpected win.
The fact that eight of the 10 BNCC dismissals were catches highlights the irrational decisions made by the willow-wielders.
Ruben Scheepers (3/43 in his allotted 10 overs), Bruce McKenzie (2/12 in 10 overs) and former Northerns player Aubrey Swanepoel (2/30 in 10 overs) did the most damage with the cherry for the victors.
It’s still early on in the campaign, but the defeat is a slight setback for last season’s champions, however, like the old cliché implies, cricket is indeed a funny game and anything can happen in future matches.
Northerns might have been poor as Francis duly admitted but Boksburg were good on the day and were deservedly rewarded for their unyielding performance.
