1st XI
On Saturday 22 September Union High School played against Brandwag from Uitenhage in a 40 over match at the beautiful Asantesana Game Reserve.
Brandwag won the toss and sent the Union lads into the field on a flat track. Due to the conditions of the pitch our seamers struggled to pick up wickets, but maintained a decent economy rate. Cowan Swartz and Matt Harpur picked up a stick each. Brandwag were 97 for 2 at drinks. After drinks the captain brought on Caerwyn Spence and Jaden Brotherton to see if our spin attack could cause some damage. This proved to be exactly the right call! Our spin twins cleaned up the rest of the Brandwag batting line up and kept them at bay to reach a modest total of 167 all out in 39.2 overs.
Best Bowlers: Caerwyn Spence 4 for 26 in 8 overs; Jaden Brotherton 4 for 22 in 7 overs.
After lunch Union went in to bat. A sublime start by Jaden Brotherton and Brett Amsterdam saw Union have an opening stand of 70 runs. In the 18th over we lost our first wicket and in walked cool and calm Luke McNaughton. It didn’t take him many balls to get going…A few overs later he was joined at the wicket by Captain Matt Harpur. The two of them easily took on the Brandwag bowling attack and cruised to victory in the 29th over.
Best Batsman: Jaden Brotherton 43; Brett Amsterdam 36; Luke McNaughton 59*; Matt Harpur 17*
Union won by 8 wickets.
2nd Team
The 2nd team played at Brandwag in a 35 over match. Brandwag won the toss and elected to field first. Our batsman struggled up front losing wickets in quick succession. We were soon 40 for 5 when Trevor Moos and Brendan James consolidated for a well played 50 run partnership to restore some hope to the innings. This was backed up by another 40 run partnership between Khanya Butshingi and William Kayster. Union were eventually bowled out for 154 in 33.4 overs.
Top batsman: Trevor Moos 31; Brendon James 20; Khanya Butshingi 20; Noa Cilliers 18
The bowlers seemed troubled and struggled to bowl a consistent line and length. Poor fielding didn’t help our cause as we dropped catches at regular intervals. Brandwag past our score in the 20th over having lost only 3 wickets.
Top bowlers: Matthew Hesselink 1 for 25 in 3 overs; Trevor Moos 1 for 28 in 4 overs.
Union lost the match by 7 wickets.
U/15A
The U/15A team also played a 35 over match at Brandwag. Union won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Josh Calitz struck in the 2nd over of the match and from there on James Pienaar ripped through the top order. Brandwag soon found themselves 30 for 5. After an amazing bowling effort, Brandwag was bowled out for a poultry 44 runs.
Best bowlers: James Pienaar 5 for 15 in 6 overs; Josh Calitz 2 for 21 in 4 overs; Jarrod Naude 3 for 0 in 1.3 overs.
Union then went in to bat and confidently scored 45 runs without loss in 5 overs.
Best batsman: Kyle-Luke du Preez 32*; Sisipho Arnolds 6*
Union won by 10 wickets.