Boksburg buckle at Prince George
A hapless Boksburg Cricket Club could only manage 69 runs in an attempt to chase down Benoni Northerns’ mammoth 258 total to hand the class-oozing visitors an easy 189-run bonus-point win in their Eastern Cricket Premier League clash.
Despite the match being played at the iconic Prince George Park, home side Boksburg came into the encounter as underdogs, and a mistimed fallout between club management and senior players before the match did not help matters for the local side.
The defeat against Northerns was the second in the same number of weeks.
Details behind the fallout are unclear.
This cost Boksburg to play with an aggressively reshuffled starting XI – and after Benoni set their target the win was a matter of when rather than if.
Northerns made up for a shaky start with captain Kurt Francis (43), Mark Robey (32) and teenager Aron Visser starring.
Visser’s unbeaten 60 from just 34 deliveries put the cherry on top of the cake before the visitors wrapped up a commendable showing with the bat.
Boksburg duo Jarred James (25) and Bruce Forbes (20) offered some resistance behind the crease in an otherwise catastrophic showing with the bat from the home side.
A significant part of the out-of-sorts performance with the bat from the home sid,e however, was down to Benoni bowler Lance Humphrey. He all but single-handedly destroyed the Boksburg batting order, taking 6/16 in nine overs including six maidens.
With the league entering the end-of-year break, Boksburg will return to action on January 15 for another tough assignment: an away trip to Kempton Park. – @SabeloBoksburg
