WBHS u14A start cricket season on a positive note

On Saturday Wynberg u14A hosted Pinelands in the first cricket fixture of the 2012 season and provided plenty of excitement for supporters looking forward to the upcoming fixtures.

Having won the toss, Mika Ekström had no hesitation in deciding to bat first although the wicket had a healthy covering of grass. With a strong batting lineup this proved to be the right decision.

Opening the innings Jesse Christensen and Ubaid Hartley got off to a flyer as the first two balls yielded six runs off Jesse's bat. Not to be outdone Ubaid got in on the act by pulling the second ball he faced for four down the leg side. Unfortunately he was out to the very next ball caught at second slip.

Jesse looked comfortable throughout his knock of 19 runs and was out playing at a wide delivery and caught superbly at first slip. At this stage Wynberg were on 64/2 and Tristan Coetzee batting at three was joined by Mika. The pair put on a healthy 114-run partnership as Tristan scored the first half-century for the team. He ended on 57 runs scoring 10 fours in the process and was run out by a whisker.

Mika continued with his impressive innings and stood on 89 not out at the lunch break. After lunch he looked unsettled and although he scored a four to take him to 93 he was out a few balls later as he played away from his pads and got an inside edge onto his stumps. He scored 2 sixes and 11 fours in his 99-ball innings.

The lunch break seemed to have wreaked havoc with the batsmen's concentration as the home side lost 5 wickets for 5 runs! Wynberg declared on 267/9.

The Pinelands inninngs started off positively as opening bat Achmad Petersen scored two fours off the bowling of Mika in the very first over. Mika produced a wonderful spell of bowling in his second over as he bowled the very same batsman and removed Pinelands' number 3 bat Justin Snelling with the very next ball. Mika missed out on his hat-trick as the batsmen crossed for a bye. In his final ball of the over he removed opening bat Justin Waqu to leave Pinelands reeling on 14/3.

With a smart run out Ubaid Hartley the crisis deepened for the visitors as they slumped to 15/4. It was a situation they were never able to recover from as the bowling depth in the side kept the scoring at a minimum and increased the pressure on the batsmen. 

All of the bowlers produced some fine spells and Zubair Daniels ended with the top bowling figures of 3/4 off 3 overs.

Pinelands were all out for 59 and Wynberg won by 208 runs.

See the attached pdf file for full scoresheet.

The side plays Bishops away next Saturday.