It was a busy weekend of cricket for Union High School, Graaff-Reinet‘s senior teams, with our 1st XI taking on York High School, our 2nd XI facing Hoรซrskool Outeniqua and our U15A boys enjoying a particularly good weekend against York.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ข ๐ง๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
๐๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง ๐ซ๐
Our 1st XI had two competitive encounters against York, with honours eventually shared between the sides.
In the opening T20, York posted 139/7 in their 20 overs, with ๐ก๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฒ๐น ๐ฃ๐ต๐ถ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ฝ๐ and ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ picking up two wickets apiece.
Union’s reply saw ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ lead the batting with 36 off 38 balls, while ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ added 26 off 29 and ๐๐ผ๐๐ต ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐๐ถ๐น๐น contributed 13. Unfortunately, the boys couldn’t quite get over the line, finishing on 120/8 and going down by 19 runs.
The second encounter, a rain-affected 30-over match, provided a much closer finish.
York batted first and reached 161/9, with ๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐๐บ ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฏ๐, ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ and ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ each claiming two wickets.
With rain interrupting proceedings, Union’s innings was cut short at 42/2 after seven overs. Leander Kraai was unbeaten on 14, with Josh Kingwill contributing 10.
This time, the calculations worked in Union’s favour, with the boys securing a ๐ณ๐ถ๐๐ฒ-๐ฟ๐๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฐ๐ธ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ต-๐๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐-๐ฆ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป ๐บ๐ฒ๐๐ต๐ผ๐ฑ.
๐ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐บ๐ด ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ต.
๐ฆ๐๐๐ข๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐
It was a difficult weekend for our 2nd XI, who came up against a strong Hoรซrskool Outeniqua side.
In their first encounter, Union struggled to settle with the bat and were dismissed for just 30 runs in 15 overs. Outeniqua chased down the target without losing a wicket, reaching 31/0 in 9.2 overs to claim a ten-wicket victory.
Saturday’s T20 proved equally challenging.
Outeniqua posted an imposing 180/6, despite some good work from ๐๐น๐ฒ๐ท๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ผ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ฟ (2/33) and ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐ถ๐ป ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ (2/37), who each picked up two wickets.
Union found runs difficult to come by in reply, finishing on 57/8 and losing by 123 runs.
๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐จ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ. There will be plenty for the boys to take away from these two matches as they prepare for their next fixtures.
๐จ๐ญ๐ฑ๐
Our U15A boys, meanwhile, had a weekend to remember, returning home with ๐๐๐ผ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐๐ผ ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ against York High School.
Friday’s T20 was a proper nail-biter!
Batting first, Union posted 135 all out in 19.4 overs, with ๐ฅ๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐๐ scoring 30 off 32 balls, ๐๐ต๐๐ฒ๐๐ถ ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐ผ adding a lively 25 off 16 and ๐ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ ๐ก๐ฎ๐๐ผ contributing 23 off 21.
York kept themselves in the contest throughout the chase, but Union’s bowlers did well to keep the pressure on.
Khwezi Malongo returned figures of 2/23, while ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฑ (1/20) and ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป (1/28) also made valuable contributions.
The match came down to the final over, with York needing 10 runs to win.
Up stepped ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฑ, who produced a wonderfully composed final over, conceding just three runs to secure a ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป-๐ฟ๐๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ for Union!
Saturday’s 30-over encounter brought another win, although this time it was the bowling that really stole the show.
On a tricky wicket, Union were dismissed for 96 in 21.1 overs. ๐๐ต๐๐ฒ๐๐ถ ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐ผ top-scored with 19 off 16 balls, while ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ (15 off 18) and ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฎ (12 off 30) helped the boys put together a total they could defend.
And defend it they did!
๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ถ produced an absolutely outstanding spell, taking ๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ท๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐ต ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐ to dismantle York’s batting line-up.
He was well supported by Khwezi Malongo (2/26) and Aidan Ferreira (1/0), as York were bowled out for just 46 in 13.2 overs.
๐จ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฌ ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐!
๐๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐15๐ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐บ๐ด. They continue to punch above their weight, and it’s been lovely to see their hard work paying off.
๐ช๐ฒ๐น๐น ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐. There were wins to enjoy and disappointments to work through, but that’s all part of the game. On to the next one!
