AFTER trailing Wanderers the whole season, WHS Old Boys struck when it mattered the most to beat Wanderers by nine wickets in the 50-over Premier League final at Wanderers on Saturday.
Wanderers completed their league campaign unbeaten, including two wins over Old Boys, but on Saturday, Old Boys took control from the start to run out comfortable winners by nine wickets. In the process they won the title for the second year in a row and the third time over the past five years.
Their dominance on Saturday had a lot to do with winning the toss and sending Wanderers in to bat on a moist pitch after overnight rain, with the home side’s batsmen struggling to get going, as they were all out for a modest 149.
By the afternoon, the pitch had flattened out and Old Boys’ openers, Craig Williams and Wimpie Viljoen, set them on course with a century partnership, before they reached the winning target for the loss of only one wicket with 20 overs still in hand.
Wanderers’ innings got off to a rocky start as Niko Davin (2), JP Kotze (13) and Danie van Schoor (16) were all dismissed cheaply to leave them struggling at 35 for three wickets.
JJ Smit and Jan Frylinck rebuilt the innings with a 53-run partnership, but Mauritius Ngupita got the breakthrough, dismissing Frylinck for 26, and when Lungameni dismissed Karl Birkenstock for 14, Wanderers were five wickets down for 120, with seven overs to go.
Wanderers’ strength in depth, which had saved them several times throughout the season, however, for once failed to materialise as Old Boys’ young spinner Divan la Cock cut through their lower order, taking the wickets of Michau du Preez (0), Ruben Claassen (5) and Nicolaas Scholtz (1) to reduce them to 140/8.
JJ Smit, the only batsman to subdue Old Boys’ bowlers, was eventually dismissed for a top score of 61 off 124 balls (1×6, 4×4) before the whole team was out for 149.
For Old Boys, Ruben Trumpelmann took three wickets for 22 runs off 10 overs, while Divan La Cock took 3/16 as well as two great catches.
Old Boys’ opening batsmen Craig Williams and Wimpie Viljoen attacked Wanderers’ bowling from the outset and soon took control of proceedings.
They brought up the 50 off only eight overs and their century partnership off 19 overs, before Williams was eventually out, caught off Bernard Scholtz’s bowling for 68 off 62 balls, which included three sixes and four fours.
Viljoen remained not out on 63 off 94 balls, while Gerhard Erasmus was not out on nine, as they reached 151 for one with 20 overs in hand.
HIGH QUALITY CRICKET
It was a consummate performance, underlined by high quality cricket from their bowlers and opening batsmen, as captain Gerhard Erasmus remarked after the match.
“It’s always a tough match against Wanderers, but today I think we played some high quality cricket to get a big win like that. Our bowlers pulled it through and kept it very tight in the middle and Craig Williams showed his class there in the chase. That was awesome and coming away with a nine wicket victory is very rewarding and it’s also very sentimental as well with our coach Gareth Cloete going away,” he said.
Despite winning the title for the second year in a row, Erasmus said it was important for Namibian club cricket that individual teams don’t become too dominant.
“As the national captain, I hope no teams are too dominant for too long because then our cricket won’t be healthy. I think it’s very important to have strong clubs all around and that was the reason for Old Boys’ establishment 10 years ago and that is why we continue to groom our youngsters as well. We had three u19 players playing in the final and we had about six of them playing throughout the league as well, so we are all for development and for transformation, and that’s the bigger win for me today,” he said.
Wanderers captain Nicolaas Scholtz said the pitch was difficult to play on in the morning.
“I think the boys played well throughout the whole Premier League 50-over season and you can see that on the log as well. It’s just a pity about the rain last night and the pitch was quite difficult this morning – we lost the toss and the outfield was wet and slow so it made it difficult. If the guys hit it through the gaps the ball didn’t go anywhere, the pitch was a bit tacky, so you couldn’t play through the line, and you all saw after lunch when the outfield got drier, the pitch just played better and better,” he said.
“I don’t want to say that the toss determined the game, but it was really difficult this morning for the guys to get off to a running start. But all credit to WHS, they didn’t allow us to have any freebies, so well played to them. I think we need to go back to the drawing board and adjust and be more innovative when we face situations like this again,” he said.
