Category: Cricket

Cricket, Sport Results

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.

Cricket, Sport Results

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