On Wednesday our U/13 boys played an intense cricket match against Laer Volkskool. In blistering heat the Union boys were sent in to bowl and through some laziness in the field allowed Volkskool to reach 129 after 20 overs. The Union team regathered after the break and hit back by putting Volkskool’s bowlers under pressure. Union managed to score freely and reached their target in the 16th over. Winning by 6 wickets.
We congratulate the following Union cricketers for being selected for the Eastern Province U/17 Inland Team, who will be attending the National Week Tournament in Kimberley from 10 to 14 December.
Jayden Brotherton, Luke McNaughton, Bowen Langmead (Captain), Kyle-Luke du Preez, Brett Amsterdam, Lihle Mxhunyelwa and Trevor Moos
Over the weekend our u13 Cricket team competed against Lorraine in two matches over the Friday and Saturday. Both games where played in Great Spirit and our boys gained a lot of experience playing against strong opposition.
Friday T20
Union 63/9 after 20 overs – Lorraine won by 8 wickets
Saturday Limited overs
Union 99/10 after 29 overs – Lorraine won by 8 wickets
On Wednesday our u13A cricket team played a 20 over match against Volkskool. We were asked to bat and took full advantage, scoring freely around the field, our batsmen constantly took on the fielders and we managed to reach 133/9 after 20 overs. With our tails in the air our bowlers bowled with confidence and we bowled them out for 56 runs, winning by 77 runs.
AJ Victor 6/11 in 4 overs.
On Friday and Saturday our u13A Cricket boys competed against the two top cricketing schools in Port Elizabeth. This was a great learning experience for our players, who unfortunately were out of their depth against strong opposition.
Friday 12 October
Our boys played their first ever match under lights in very cold condition on Friday evening. They struggled to get off the mark and only managed to score 67/7 in their 20 overs. Sunridge Primary made easy work of the case and surpassed our total in the 12 over. Union u13A lost by 7 wickets.
Saturday 13 October
On Saturday our boys travelled to Grey Junior where they let themselves down with a poor display of fielding and bowling conceding 68 runs in extras. We struggled to put our opponents under any real pressure and allowed Grey to score freely in their 45 overs. Union lost by 296 runs.
1st XI (50 over match)
St Andrews won the toss and elected to bat first. With a very new and inexperienced bowling attack Union allowed St Andrews to get off to a healthy start. However, despite being on the back foot the Union team fought back and managed to curb the run rate in the middle overs due to some excellent bowling by Brett Amsterdam and Caerwyn Spence, who managed to go for only 37 runs in his allotted 10 overs, in a game where the run rate was at 6 runs an over. This allowed Union to apply pressure on the already set batsmen and managed to take 3 quick wickets after drinks, leaving St Andrews having to rebuild their innings. Unfortunately having allowed them to have wickets in hand at the back end of the innings St Andrews took advantage of a good batting track and posted a well-played 302 for 4. Given the total posted the pick of the bowlers were Caerwyn Spence with 0 for 37 in 10 overs and Matthew Hesselink who took 2 for 27 in 5 overs.
Union then went in to bat and started with a wonderful 70 run opening partnership which was looking to set up the innings for an exciting run chase. Despite losing some quick wickets Luke Mc Naughton managed to hold his nerve and the innings together with some fine stroke play. Unfortunately a lack of experience in the middle to lower order proved to be the difference between the two batting performances and Union ended their innings on 218 all out.
Best batsmen were: Luke Mc Naughton 84, Brett Amsterdam 37 and Trevor Moos 25
Union lost the match by 84 runs.
Despite the loss there are many positives to take away for this very young side and the future of Union cricket is an exciting prospect.
U/15A
Union lost the toss, were sent in to bat and were bowled out for 59.
James Pienaar was the best batsmen with 25.
St Andrews Bloem went in to bat and managed to reach the total without losing a wicket.
Union lost the match by 10 wickets.
2nd Team
Union won the toss, elected to bat and managed to score 77 all out.
Best batsmen were: JJ Liebenberg 25, Z Ngwana 15 and W Kayster 11
St Andrews managed to pass the target with only 2 wickets down.
Best bowlers were B James 1/15 and Z Ngwana 1/24
Union lost by 8 wickets
Our U/11 Cricket team took part in the Queen’s Festival where our boys had the opportunity to compete against some of the best schools in the border region. This was a challenging couple of days that saw our boys play four matches over three days. Our boys had some difficulty playing against strong opposition losing three of our four games.
Vs Queen’s lost by 95 runs
Vs Dale lost by 5 wickets
Vs Alice lost by 46 runs
Vs Komani won by 63 runs
This was a great experience for our young cricketers and one they would certainly cherish for years to come.
Saturday 29/09/18
Union High School vs Paul Roos Gimnasium (Declaration)
Paul Roos won the toss and sent Union in to bat in very difficult conditions. With the ball swinging around and moving off the pitch, we struggled to get any partnerships going and didn’t really apply ourselves in the first hour and a half. The Paul Roos bowlers used the conditions to their advantage and skittled us for a dismal 43 all out in 25 overs. Conditions really changed the longer and hotter the day got. Paul Roos comfortably scored 230 runs for the loss of two wicket in 49 overs. They then declared and only need to get 5 wickets in the Union second innings to get an out right victory. We reached 39 for the loss of 5 wickets in 15 overs and lost by an innings and 138 runs. Not a very good start to a tough cricket festival.
Sunday 30/09/18
Union High School vs Bishops Diocesan College (Declaration)
Union High was again sent in to bat after losing the toss. This time the boys were up for the challenge.
We scored 252 for 9 in 70 overs, batting out the allotted overs given to us in this format of the game.
Best Batsman: Cowan Swartz 65; Luke McNaughton 62; Bowen Langmead 36; Sinethemba Ndudula 34.
Bishops then went in to bat and found it quite simple with us bowling both sides of the wicket. Bishops scored 253 for 3 in 44 overs. Cowan Swartz, Matt Harpur and Jaden Brotherton each picked up one wicket.
Union High lost by 7 wickets.
Monday 01/10/18
Union High School vs Paarl Boys’ High School (Declaration)
We lost the toss and were sent in to bat again. Union High scored 131 all out in 41 overs.
Top Batsman: Luke McNaughton 64
Paarl Boys were put under pressure for some stages of their batting innings, however not enough runs on the scoreboard helped them scratch to 132 for 5 in 39 overs.
Best Bowlers: Brett Amsterdam 2 for 36 in 14 overs; Matt Harpur 2 for 42 in 11 overs.
Union High lost by 5 wickets.
Tuesday 02/10/18
Union High School vs South African College High School “SACS” (Limited Overs – 50)
Union High was sent in to Bowl for the first time in 5 matches. SACS scored 343 for 5 in 50 overs due to ill disciplined bowling and not being put under any pressure.
Best Bowler: Caerwyn Spence 2 for 51 in 8 overs.
Union High went in to bat and scored 165 for 5 in 35 overs. Best Batsman: Bowen Langmead 63; Brett Amsterdam 37; Matt Harpur 21; Peter Watermeyer 13*; Union High lost by 178 runs.
All in all this was an amazing experience for the boys. They were able to play against provincial and national cricket players. This festival will help boost our cricket as we have made many new contacts and fixtures for the future. Our lads learnt invaluable cricket lessons and this young team will turn heads in time to come.
Union High School will host The Cape Schools’ Cricket Festival in 2019.
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.
Friday, 31 August
UHS 1st XI (T20): UHS won by 7 wickets
On Friday the 1st XI got their season under way playing a T20 against Pearson. Union won the toss and sent Pearson in to bat. The bowlers immediately found their straps with maintaining a perfect line and length and put Pearson under pressure from the get go, striking with two quick wickets. The Union boys continued to build great pressure with the ball and had Pearson struggling at 76/5 after 17 overs. Unfortunately they were unable to capitalize on all their opportunities, which allowed Pearson to reach a total of 125 in their 20 overs. Pick of the bowlers were Matt Harpur finishing with figures of 3/22 and Brett Amsterdam 2/18 off their allotted 4 overs respectively. Union went in to bat and got off to a perfect start with a wonderful 36 run opening partnership between Brett Amsterdam and Luke Mc Naughton. Despite losing both openers in one over Matt Harpur and Cowan Swartz showed great maturity and batted with tremendous intent putting together a very well-played 56 run partnership, which then allowed Bowen Langmead to come in and play a blistering innings of 19 to take us across the line winning the game by 7 wickets. Special mention must be made of Matt Harpur who had a wonderful all round performance and finished on 50 not out with the bat.
Best bowling figures: Matt Harpur 3/22 in 4 overs; Brett Amsterdam 2/18 in 4 overs
Best batting scores: Matt Harpur 50 not out; Luke Mc Naughton 25; Bowen Langmead 19 not out
Saturday, 1 September
UHS XI (50 overs): lost by 8 wickets
On Saturday the 1st XI took on Pearson again in a 50 over match. Pearson won the toss and sent Union in to bat. Despite being full of confidence after their performance the previous day Union were unable to carry on where they left off with the bat. They were met with some wonderful accurate bowling and were never allowed to put any substantial partnerships together after the well grinded 40 run partnership between Brett Amsterdam and Matt Harpur. Union continued to lose wickets at regular intervals and could only manage a less than modest 108 all out.
Pearson went in to bat and Union immediately found their line and length striking in the very first over. They continued to bowl with great accuracy and were able to keep Pearson under pressure, however missed some chances which allowed Pearson to knuckle down and with little scoreboard pressure they were able to manage Union’s score with only two wickets down winning the match by 8 wickets.
Best batting scores: Brett Amsterdam 25; Cowan Swartz 15
Best bowling figures: Cowan Swartz 2/34 in 8 overs
Despite the loss the Union boys must be commended for the way in which they played their cricket this weekend and even when their backs were against the wall they never gave up and maintained a positive approach to the game. All in all it was a great start to the season.
2nd Team (50 overs): lost by 181 runs
Pearson batted first and scored 239 for 5 in 40 overs. Sintu Nkosinkulu took 2 wickets for 39 in 8 overs. Union replied with 58 all out. Union lost by 181 runs.
U/15A Team
Union batted first and scored 51 all out in 22 overs. Pearson replied with 52 without loss.
Union lost by 10 wickets. U/15A (50 overs): lost by 10 wickets