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Varsity Cricket off to blistering start

Potchefstroom - The inaugural season of Varsity Cricket kicked off here on Tuesday with six thrilling matches offering plenty of entertainment.

Tuks are top of the table after day one with nine points, followed closely by the University of Johannesburg on eight points, while UWC are bottom of the log.

The University of Johannesburg claimed two wins in their two matches, beating UWC and Maties in their two matches of the day. Tuks also claimed two wins out of their two matches, beating Stellenbosch and NMMU as the tournament got off to a flying start with non-stop action across three different venues.  UCT and Pukke also bagged a win each with victories over Kosvies and NMMU respectively.

Tuks' Jacques Snyman tops the run-scoring charts with 89 runs at an average of 44.50. David White is in close second with 85 runs at an average of 42.50. Harry van Straaten leads the wicket-takers list with six wickets in two games at an average of just 9.83, an impressive return considering the tough conditions bowlers face in this format.

It was a day filled with fanfare as cheerleaders kept the crowd going while players got to grips with the newly introduced Power Play Plus over, which sees runs scored during the over doubled while a loss of a wicket results in five penalty runs being added to the bowling side’s total.

The tournament continues on Wednesday with six more matches that promise to deliver even more excitement as Varsity Cricket continues to break all the rules of conventional T20 cricket.

Tuks vs Maties: Tuks won by 36 runs

Tuks: 168/5 (J Snyman 61, M Coetzee 49; N Scholtz 2/23, J Dill 1/30)

Maties: 132/8 (L le Roux 45, J Marais 26; C Bosch 3/19, R Claassen 3/21)

UJ vs UWC: UJ won by 29 runs

UJ: 155/9 (H van Straaten 31, Y Valli, 25; D Christians 2/17, J Smith 2/17)

UWC: 131 all out (J Smith 30, I Hendricks 27; K Dudgeon 4/26, H van Straaten 4/2

UCT vs Kovsies: UCT won by 7 wickets

UFS Kovsies: 151/6 (M Erlank 29, I Finlay 24; J Leppan 2/27, S Golding 2/23)

UCT: 155/3 (J Newby 59, R Tissiman 41; J van Dyk 1/16, K Rafferty 1/19)

Pukke vs NMMU:  Pukke won by 11 runs

NWU Pukke: 176/9 (W Lubbe 55, J Malan 36; S Nqweni 4/37, B Dolley 2/16)

NMMU: 170/8 (D White 28, B Dolley 24; H du Plooy 3/32, J Malan 2/17)

UJ vs Maties: UJ won by 3 runs

UJ: 181/4 (D Potgieter 53,Y Valli 49; N Botha 3/24, D Botha 1/26)

Maties: 178/6 (J Bredenkamp 41, D Botha 36; N Mvelase 2/25, H van Straaten 2/33)

Notes on scoring:

In cases where there is a difference between winning margins and team totals, it means a team lost a wicket (or wickets) during the Power Play Plus Over. A loss of a wicket during this over would have originally resulted in the loss of five runs for the batting side, but due to a scoring system complication, they are now being added to the bowling team's total as penalty runs instead.

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