Maties batter the Academy in Regional semi Final!
The Maties were drawn to play the Boland Academy in the Regional 50 over competition Semi-final and they certainly took up the challenge with both hands as they cruised to an 80 run victory.
The Maties elected to bat and despite losing le roux and Botha early Captain Jordaan (66)and Mark van Heerden(48) set about compiling a very tidy 100 run partnership that took their team to 133/3 after 33 overs before they both lost their wickets early in the Batting power play.
Erhard Louw (30) entered the fray along with Stephen Baard (23) as they increased the tempo with some lusty blows that included a massive six from Baard that ended half way up the mountain. The players however lost their wickets soon after each other and this threatened to slow the scoring, but James Groom (23) and Jean Marais’s rapid (32*) at the death ensured a mighty finish with 90 runs off the last 10 overs to reach 251/8.
The Academy started steadily against the accurate bowling of Faan Fourie (4/26) and Chris Knoll (1/15) in ten overs but never really managed to maintain the required run rate as they lost wickets at regular intervalsand finished 80 runs short of the victory target.
