Le Roux and Botha ensure the Boland Regional 50 over Title for the Maties
The Regional 50 over final took place in Paarl on the 4th March in a final between Maties and West Boland. Overnight rain had led to a half hour delayed start and the West Boland outfit had little hesitation in putting the Maties in on a slightly damp wicket.
Henno Jordaan (11) and Man of the Match Leon Le roux (77) put on a steady 30 run opening stand before Jordaan was run out. Mark van Heerden (23) Dewald Botha (17) Erhard Louw (11) all got starts but never capitalised on a difficult wicket that offered some seam movement along with some turn and bounce.
Leon Le roux in the meantime played a wonderful innings that was mixed with deft touch and real aggression as he set about guiding Maties towards a respectable total. Chris knoll and Karl Nieuwoudt finished strongly with the bat to ensure a final total of 211/8.
The Matie attack started brilliantly with both Faan Fourie and James Groom getting prodigious swing with the new ball and picking up the first 2 wickets with only 15 runs on the board. Chris Knoll (2/22) and Dewald Botha (4/43) really applied the brakes on the opposition innings and when Faan Fourie held on to an amazing catch at long on to remove the dangerous Cornellisen the writing was on the wall for the west Boland side and they collapsed to a 46 run defeat.
This young Maties team had played exceptional cricket over the past 4 weeks and certainly earned there result, the team and the Skipper Henno Jordaan can be proud of their efforts and achievements in this competition. Brilliant effort Boys!
