The West Coast Rollers made it two wins from two to start the new FCA season, comfortably beating our northern suburbs brothers, the Coastal Strikers, on a blustery Sunday afternoon.
There was a pleasant return to Brackenfell Cricket Club, a venue where we have fought some epic battles, and most certainly the best brandy special in the whole of the Western Cape.
Stand-in skipper Ryan Cooper won the toss and elected to bat, arguing the wind would eventually die down in the afternoon when we fielded. It didn’t. And it wouldn’t be his last poor decision.
Jarryd van Wyk and Bryan Bowler took first strike for the visitors, with the latter looking in decent touch before flashing at a wide one and being expertly caught behind by Tim for 16. Ryan strolled in at three, fresh from sharing a changeroom with Jacques Kallis and having not stopped talking about it, only to sky the third ball he faced to square-leg for a duck.
And when Neville Cooper (5) and Michael van Dewenter (5) departed in quick succession, it was left to Ayden Cooper to steady the ship with Bryan. They added a watchful 37 for the fifth wicket before Bryan was caught at mid-off for 39, but the youngster found a willing partner in debutant Koby le Roux, who played one of the most entertaining innings you’ll ever see - think Roelof van der Merwe circa 2009.
They added 49 for the sixth wicket in just six overs, with Koby run out for 20, before Ayden was caught on the boundary for a well played 39 off 52 balls.
Peter Muller (13), Rohan van der Mescht (4), Hannes Moore (4) and Ruan de Jongh (10*) saw us through to 169 - a very good recovery, but probably around 30 short.
That looked closer to 50 short when Peter got a case of the yips in his first over, bowling nine wides and conceding 21 before tearing his hamstring. As sure a case of TFC if ever there was one.
It looked a case of Mission Impossible, but we found our very own Tom Cruise in Big Mike, who swung it like a Waterkloof couple and bowled with uncanny accuracy to bag a career best 5-0-19-5.
Absolutely spent after bowling seven on the trot, we were forced to hide Mike in the slips, where he then proceeded to take a full-length, one-handed diving catch to dismiss Tim and leave the Strikers reeling at 70/6.
But with Francois still in and Herman Oosthuizen striding to the crease, we knew the job was not done. They duly put on 40 for the seventh wicket before Jarryd (2/21) cleaned Herman with a straight one, and with Ruan not giving anything away at the other end (5-0-19-0), the pressure started to mount.
Ryan (1/9) and Koby (2/9) came on and wrapped up the tail to dismiss Strikers for 132, with Francois left stranded on 23 and promising violence in the form of post-match fines to his teammates. It wasn’t quite as dramatic, but a great time was had by all as we klapped some beers and braaied some boeries before descending on the aforementioned brandy special.
Thanks to Francois, Herman and the boys for a most enjoyable game of social cricket!
Comments