Boksburg thumped at United
“Boksburg didn't pitch up for the game and to say we were very poor doesn’t describe our performance on the day.”
That was the analysis of disappointed Boksburg Cricket Club captain Len Meyer, following his side’s heavy 195-run loss to United, on Sunday, November 8.
The horrid day at the office for Boksburg at United’s Hoskins Park home ground began as early as the pre-match coin toss, which was won by Meyer.
The skipper opted for the conservative approach of sending the in-form hosts to bat first – a decision Meyer admitted he regretted post-match.
“I won the toss and decided to bowl; wrong decision on a flat track and we got absolutely hammered by United at all three facets [batting, bowling, fielding] of the game.”
Meyer’s move to field first would ricochet back to hurt Boksburg dearly, as the United batting order turned on the style before posting 309/8 in their allocated 50 overs – the highest ever Premier League score in the club’s history – and securing a well-deserved bonus point in the process.
With the loss of opener Kabelo Sekhukhune for 20 runs, fellow opening batsman Jose van der Berg was joined at the crease by number three, Rian van der Merwe, with the score at 34/1.
The pair put on a 126-run partnership to give the hosts the platform to set a large target.
Van der Berg played well to put 66 runs on the scoreboard (off 77 balls), while van der Merwe scored his second century for the club, with 103 runs off 108 deliveries (an innings that included 15 fours).
It was also the third ton scored by a United player this season, after Eden Links’s back-to-back centuries in October.
When van der Berg was dismissed in the 28th over, Links joined van der Merwe at the wicket and the two put on a 64-run partnership before the latter was finally caught out off the bowling of Maxwell Meyer.
Links would eventually fall two short of a half-century, but, together with Gamble, who scored 30, the team were on track for their club’s record breaking score.
When United stepped out to bowl they continued that good momentum, despite Boksburg’s heavy hitter at the top of the order, John Haywood (36 runs off 30 balls), flashing hard at virtually every delivery bowled.
His castle was eventually toppled by the left-arm spin of Justin Gamble.
What followed summed up the visitors’ day as big hitting trio Heinrich Cronje, Ruan du Plessis and Aubrey Swanepoel got duck dismissals.
With the chips down in the Boksburg camp, Meyer’s men went on to finish with 114 after 27 overs on a day the local XI will want to quickly forget.
“All credit to United, who played brilliant cricket, and that’s why they have not lost a game this season,” said the classy Boksburg skipper.
“Ruben Scheepers was a standout player for us in an otherwise bleak weekend of cricket.
“We have to take it on the chin and move on to the next fixture; that’s cricket for you: one week high, the next week low – I don’t have much further to say about the weekend.” – @SabeloBoksburg
