Indy Oil Pinelands back to winning ways

Indy Oil PCC vs Old Mutual CC (away)

• SAT 13^th NOV – Day 1:

On an underprepared wicket PCC won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Tight bowling by the seamers lead to pressure on the batting side and resulted in a continuous fall of wickets throughout their innings.

Leg spinner Nazim Parker also contributed well with a couple of wickets as the pitch took some turn after the shine had worn off.

Medium pacer Aviwe Mgijima returned the best figures of 3/20 in 16 overs with an inspired spell. James Johnston (2 wickets) and Colin Birch (1 wicket) supported him well.

Old Mutual eventually limped to 112 all out in tough batting conditions.

Indy Oil PCC went in to bat with the goal of reaching 160 which would mean a lead of 50 or more.

Unfortunately the batting let us down and we were bundled out for a poultry 87. There were no scores to write home about other than Ryan Canning’s gutsy innings of 25.

This meant Old Mutual had to face 9 overs before the end of days play – And the inform bowler of the day, Aviwe managed to knock over two of their batsmen before stumps on the first day was called. Old Mutual were effectively 43 runs ahead with 8 wickets left in the shed.

The PCC team would need to arrive on the second Saturday with a lot more guts and determination to beat the log leaders and get the season back on track with a win.

• SAT 20^th NOV – Day 2:

Game plan during the week was to be more positive (show more intent) as a batting unit and take the attack to the bowlers when the time came to chase the score. As a bowling unit we also needed to restrict them to as lower score possible as we didn’t want to be chasing much more than 160 odd.

As a result of losing time on the first day due to a wet wicket play started at 9.30am. With weather conditions being cloudy, the wicket being very seamer friendly, and a team ready to knock over the champions the day was set for an enthralling contest. Colin Birch (4/26 in 19 overs) and the talented left arm quickie Mikey Bechus (4/28 in 12 overs) soon had the opposition in trouble picking up wickets from both ends. Indy Oil PCC meant business!

Within the first hour the opposition had lost another five wickets without going too much further ahead. With continuous pressure and wickets falling from both ends the PCC had got themselves into the pound seats after playing second fiddle most of the game. A noticeable change had taken place within the side – That ‘fight’ we were missing in the first few 2-Day games was starting to become evident again. We were beginning to dominate and the belief that we would win this game was alive.

The final wicket was taken when Old Mutual’s score was on 96 totalling a lead of 114. Colin Sher and Michael Pote opened the innings and got us off to a solid start in pursuit of the target set. With the score on 38 for no wicket, a miscommunication took place between the two batsmen and Pote was wastefully run out. In strode the burly framed Steve Westraad at 3, given the opportunity at the top of the order to solidify the line up. With some tapping and gardening of the pitch, a dominant marking of the crease and a strut second only to a Moose Bull in the height of the rut season – Westraad stamped his authority on the opposition and ‘dug in’. Huss on the other end was playing a really mature innings rotating the strike and picking up the odd boundaries to keep the score board ticking. He reached a fine half century with our score around 40 runs short of the target. There were a flurry of boundaries towards the end as Wes and Huss put the final nails in the coffin. Huss ended undefeated on 62 and Wes on 38 not out.

A great victory was achieved and in the end Indy Oil PCC won the match comfortably by 9 wickets! The Old Mutual chairman pointed out that we were the first team to beat them on their turf in the last four years.

A big congratulations must go to all the players, coach, and supporters! A lot of confidence has been taken out of this win and we need to build on it for the rest of the season.