The Rollers returned to winning ways this past weekend against Cape Town Cricket Club, but we almost pulled a Gulam Bodi towards the end.
Playing at the picturesque Wynberg High School, we took first strike as the captain, leading run scorer and leading wicket-taker rocked up late, having first stopped at the bottle store for some refreshments.
It mattered little though, as the visitors got off to a blistering start through Ryan Cooper and Cornell Keulder, who put on an unbeaten 88 for the first wicket before the former retired on 50.
Andrew Harmsworth lasted one ball (he’s now faced two balls for the Rollers for two ducks), before Cornell departed for a brilliant 40.
George Kamfer added to his duck tally when he too copped a first-baller, but Hannes Carlson and Andrew Young (12) steadied the ship, while Andre de la Harpe (13) also added valuable runs.
Neville Cooper (4), Fabio de Dominicus (4) and Michael van Dewenter (0) departed in quick succession before Casper was eventually dismissed for 31 – more than doubling his run-tally for the season.
So CTCC set 181 for the win, and Ritchie looked like he had a plane to catch as he smashed 16 from Andrew’s first seven balls. But Bruce Banner got his revenge – and then some.
Pulling his length back, he picked up four quick wickets – including three successive wicket maidens – to rock the hosts. He finished with brilliant figures of 7-4-21-4 and, with Big Mike, Ryan and Casper getting one apiece, CTCC were reeling on 58 for 7.
But true to Rollers form, we took off the gas and allowed the opposition back into the game though, in fairness, Richard and Roger Moult batted with some intelligence to bring their team back into it.
The pair put almost 100 runs for the eighth wicket, but some tight bowling from Fabio meant that in the end they ran out of overs as the Rollers hung on for a 20-run win.
As always, a great time was had afterwards as the beers flowed – some would argue too many as Andrew bizarrely won an award for his personality!
Thanks again to Roger and his team for a fantastic afternoon. We’ll defs see you next season again.
BATTING Cornell Keulder 40 (6×4) Ryan Cooper 57* (3×6, 6×4) Andrew Harmsworth 0 Hannes Carlson 31 (1×6, 4×4) George Kamfer 0 Andrew Young 12 (1×6) Andre de la Harpe 13 (1×6, 1×4) Neville Cooper 4 Fabio de Dominicus 4 (1×4) Michael van Dewenter 0 Hennie de Villiers 7 (1×4)
Extras: 12 TOTAL: 180 all out (32.2 overs)
BOWLING Andrew Young 7-4-21-4 Michael van Dewenter 7-0-24-0 Ryan Cooper 7-1-27-1 Hannes Carlson 7-0-32-1 Andrew Harmsworth 2-0-28-0 Fabio de Dominicus 7-1-40-2
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