The West Coast Rollers maintained their winning run against the Pumas on Sunday with a comprehensive 50-run victory at the Rondebosch Sports Club.
The two sides first locked horns in 2016, with the Rollers seemingly cruising to victory in Bellville until Garth le Roux’s unbeaten 98 resulted in some squeaky bum time. Last season we won by one run with three balls to spare, but this time out it was a bit more straight-forward.
That said, for much of the morning we didn’t expect to get any play in considering the persistent drizzle, so the Rollers took to drinking beer and doing the ‘hammer’. When the skies suddenly cleared we had to down the hatch and try to focus; more so when skipper Michael van Dewenter won his sixth toss in a row and decided to bat.
Ryan Cooper and Cornell Keulder opened the batting in the shortened T20 format, and they got the visitors off to a flyer on the smallish ground. They reached 89 by the halfway mark, and then both notched up their 50s before Cornell was caught on the boundary for 54 off 37 balls, ending the 127-run first-wicket partnership.
Ryan was joined by Jarryd van Wyk and they added another 65 runs off six overs, with Jarryd caught on the fence off the last ball of the innings for 26 off 16 as the Rollers posted an imposing 192/1. Ryan eventually finished unbeaten on 101 off 67 deliveries.
A big score to chase, but we knew all too well that Pumas had some big hitters in their line-up. After Jarryd had Dan stumped early on, Shaun walked in and smashed the third ball he faced onto the roof of the house at long-off. However, new-boy Peter Muller (2/24) cleaned him up with his second delivery, and then got the big wicket of Gareth, smartly caught at backward point by Ruan de Jongh.
Ruan (1/23), Mike (1/17) and Cornell (1/10) got in on the wickets, before a late blitz by Garth (39* off 20) provided some joy to the Pumas, who finished on 142/6 off their 20 overs.
The win made it five from six for the Rollers, who celebrated with some well-deserved brandy specials afterwards. Thanks again to Shukri and his team for a great day played in a brilliant spirit.
Comments