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Potchefstroom - The inaugural Varsity Cricket tournament continued to entertain here on Wednesday.
Pukke surged to the top of the Varsity Cricket table after retaining their unbeaten run in all three of their matches and claiming a bonus point in both of their matches on Wednesday. Tuks are second, also unbeaten, but with fewer points while Maties are sitting pretty at third with two wins out of four in their matches played.
UJ are fourth with two wins out of three games and eight points while NMMU and UCT are tied on four points, but NMMU ahead on net run rate.
Two teams are winless in the tournament thus far, with UWC still without a single point after two matches and Kovsies also without points after three games.
Wednesday was a day to remember for Stellenbosch University and a number of its players, though, as the tournament’s first hundred was scored by a Maties player. The current top three run scorers are all from Stellenbosch as is the top wicket-taker.
Maties' Jean Marais hammered an unbeaten 107 off 67 balls, in an innings that included 15 fours and one six when Maties took on Kovsies. His knock propelled Maties to 237-2 in their 20 overs, the highest team total of the tournament so far, and secured an emphatic 120-run win.
Another team who has reason to smile is Tuks, after, South Africa’s Under-19 World Cup winning captain, Aidan Markram, scored his first half century of the tournament with a classy 53 off 44 against UJ.
Jean Marais current tops the run-scorers list with 183 runs at an average of 61.00, followed by two other Stellenbosch players with David Bedingham second (115 runs @ 28.75) and Dewald Botha third (102 @ 34.00).
Below follows wraps as well as brief scores for all of Wednesday's matches:
Maties v UWC: Maties won by 45 runs
The University of Stellenbosch (Maties) crushed UWC by 45 runs thanks largely to a superb bowling display from Neil Botha, who claimed figures of four for 22. Maties won the toss and chose to bat, a decision which proved to be fruitful, as they notched up 181 runs in their 20 overs. A 43-run second-wicket partnership between Jean Marias and Leon le Roux set the foundation for a good total. Ismaeel Gafieldien blitzed 37 off 27 at number six to prop up the Stellenbosch side and put them in a commanding position. UWC made a steady start, with an opening partnership of 45 between George Banda and Ashley Cupido. But Eddie Schutte and Botha soon started their onslaught and kept the lid on UWC who simply could not keep up with the scoring rate.
Brief scorecard:
Maties: 181/6 (I Gafieldien 37*, L Le Roux 31; I Hendricks 2/21, L Williams 1/22)
UWC: 136/7 (J Smith 31, I Hendricks 21; N Botha 4/22, E Schutte 2/21)
Pukke v Kovsies: Pukke won by 60 runs
North West University (Tuks) claimed a mammoth 60-run win over the University of Free State (Kovsies) in the second round of the inaugural Varsity Cricket tournament on Wednesday. A half-century from Tuks captain Rohan Kruger lifted his side to 187-9 in their 20 overs after they won the toss and elected to bat first. Kovsies simply could not string together any significant partnerships and no batsman passed the 30-run mark as they were skittled out for 127. Bjorn Fortuin and Henning du Plooy bagged two wickets apiece as their side stormed to victory in just over an hour.
Brief scorecard:
NWU Pukke: 188/9 (R Kruger 50, W Lubbe 39; J van Dyk 3/45, K Rafferty 2/26)
UFS Kovsies: 127 all out (C Dry 29, A Muller 20; Du Plooy 2/12, Fortuin 2/31)
Tuks v UJ: Tuks won by 8 runs
Tuks continued their dominant display in the Varsity Cricket tournament on Wednesday, making it three wins from three games when they beat University of Johannesburg (UJ) by eight runs. Tuks won the toss and elected to bat first, posting 150-6 in their 20 overs. Their total was largely helped by South African Under-19 World Cup winning skipper Aiden Markram, who hit 53 off 44 opening the batting. UJ's top order stuttered in their reply, with not a single batsman in the top five getting past 20-runs. Jayden Broodryk and Umar Asad hit 37 apiece, but it was not enough to lift the Johannesburg team over the line. Corbin Bosch was the standout bowler for Tuks, claiming figures of 4-0-22-3.
Brief scorecard:
UP-Tuks: 150/6 (A Markram 53, J Wessels 26; I Moseki 3/28, M Varner 2/31)
UJ: 142/8 (U Asad 37*, J Broodryk 37; C Bosch 3/22, L Ngidi 1/13)
UCT v NMMU: NMMU won by six wickets (with two balls remaining)
NMMU picked up their first victory of the Varsity Cricket tournament when they beat University of Cape Town by six wickets on Wednesday. UCT won the toss and chose to bat first, but struggled to get going up front. Skipper Sebastian Golding tried to hold the fort with 33 off 29, but his batting partners let him down. Out of the top five batsmen, only Golding managed to pass 20. Were it not from a late blitz from Luke Stevens, who scored 30 off 19 at number nine, the situation could have been far worse. A solid batting effort from Mathew Christensen, who scored 50 off 51, helped power Madibaz to their first win of the tournament.
Brief scorecard:
UCT: 137/9 (S Golding 33, L Stevens 30; E Moore 3/27, J Davidson 2/26)
NMMU: 140/4 (M Christensen 50, E Moore 28; L Stevens 2/24, N Madwe 1/23)
Maties v Kovsies: Maties won by 120 runs
University of Stellenbosch romped to their second victory of the inaugural Varsity Cricket tournament, beating Kovsies in emphatic fashion. After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Maties got off to a cracking start. Jean Marais hammered an unbeaten 107 off 67 to set the platform for a massive total. He was well-supported by David Bedingham who hit 61 off 33 as the Maties post a mammoth 237-2 in 20 overs. The Kovsies reply was somewhat embarrassing, with just three batsman getting into double figures with Dirk Bruwer's 51 off 41 not enough to get Kovsies even close to the target. Eddie Schutte claimed figures of 4-0-12-3 while Niel Botha chipped in with three for 33 as Maties stormed to a massive win.
Brief scorecard:
Maties: 237-2 (J Marais 107*, D Bedingham 61; M Bruwer 1/36, C Dry 1/39)
Kovsies: 117 all out (D Bruwer 51, M Bruwer; E Schutte 3/12, N Botha 3/33)
Pukke v UCT: Pukke won by 40 runs
Pukke kept their unbeaten record in the Varsity Cup tournament when they beat UCT by 40 runs on Wednesday. UCT won the toss and elected to field first and managed to restrict Pukke to a modest 119-5 after 20 overs. Henning du Plooy top scored for the hosts with 37 off 33. Pukke's response was emphatic as they pegged the Cape Town team back to a sticky position of 35-8. Just one batsman in the top eight managed to make it into double figures as Jovuan vvan Wyngaardt ripped through the heart of the UCT batting line-up. UCT's tail wagged with a 19-run stand for the ninth wicket and a 30-run stand for the tenth to engineer some sort of recovery, before UCT were eventually all out for 84.
Brief scorecard:
Pukke: 119/5 (H du Plooy 37, R Kruger 26; L Stevens 1/19, S Golding 1/23)
UCT: 84 all out (J Strang 14, J Leppan 14; B Fortuin 2/9, J van Wyngaardt 4/16)
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. Due to a scoring system complication, they are being added to the bowling team's total as penalty runs instead.
