There used to be a time when the Rollers just could not beat Scorpions. They were our bogey team, had our number, we were their bunnies, whichever else cliché you can think of.
Then one year we – under the astute leadership of Trevor White – we finally broke that curse. You may not remember it because Trevor never sent out a match report, but ever since that day we have always got the better of them.
And so it was too on this fine Saturday past, when the Rollers taught the once mighty Scorpions a cricketing lesson they will not soon forget.
Put in to bat on a peach of a wicket, we got off to a brisk start before Ryan Cooper followed up a lovely Matty Hayden drive with a rather rubbish attempt at a pull shot and was caught behind for 22. As it turned out, the only wicket the Rollers lost on the day.
Neville, having once again wangled an opening spot, looked the best his looked all season and was playing all around the wicket – including a lovely straight six which smashed into the sightscreen – before being forced to retire on 52 not out.
Joining him at the fall of the only wicket was Louis Pretorius. Not quite as free-flowing as two weeks ago against Kelvin Grove, he nevertheless showed a cool head in playing his eye in and rotating the strike before unleashing himself – again getting to 50 to lead the early-season run charts.
Jacques Laubscher (17*) and Nicky Rheeder (14*) then batted out the remaining nine overs to see the Rollers to 167/1 – perhaps a few runs short, but with a strong bowling line-up to come.
As it turned out, Scorpions could have batted twice and still would not have reached the target. Ryan Cooper and Hannes Moore kept things tight in the opening seven overs before Hannes Carlson and Jakes Oberholzer ripped the heart out of the top and middle order.
Casper bowled an excellent and controlled spell of 7-0-15-2, while Coach – playing in his one and only game of the season – went even better, getting figures of 7-2-16-3, including the big scalp of Bennie Liebenberg, who by that stage had been chirped out of the game by Nicky.
Not to be outdone, Nico Rheeder then ended the game as a contest with some wily bowling, picking up four wickets for just 11 runs with his mix of grenade tosses and wrong ‘uns.
Charl Viljoen then picked up the last wicket to conclude a comprehensive 85-run victory for the Rollers, who played total cricket on the day – solid batting, excellent bowling and some brilliant fielding.
As per usual, the Rollers kept the barman busy after the game, with the last lot leaving (chased away) just before 11pm.
So the next game is this Sunday against Bellville. Let’s keep up the high standard of play and get another one over these guys before the big one the week thereafter – against WPCC.
Chirp of the Day: Charl Viljoen’s entire speech about handjobs and how most females do it wrong.
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