If the Cape Town First XI were hoping for a good omen for the season ahead from their first match in the 1B - albeit still against 1A opposition - they were to be disappointed.  Instead, for the first time since the 2003/04 season, they failed to win their opening match - although an impressively professional fight to the finish (that sadly has not always been characteristic of the team) reduced the eventual difference between the teams to a not unreasonable 19-run margin.  On the flip side of that coin, however, it must also be said that a winning start to a season has never really proved to be an accurate measure of what lies ahead for the First XI - last season they won both of their first two matches, only to end up losing five of the last six and be relegated!

Nevertheless, there were positives to be taken from the game.  Winning the toss for only the second time in the last 14 matches was always helpful, and despite losing far and away their two most experienced bowlers over the off season, they still managed to bowl their opponents out - something that proved to be a rare enough feat last season.  The batting would be a concern at this point though, and the standard of fielding will also need to be upped - two obvious catches were put down, and several misfields conceded extra runs - never a good idea in a low-scoring match.

With an unusually wet winter already having delayed the start of the season by a week, Cape Town inserted their guests on the expectedly slow pitch - surrounded by an almost impossibly heavy outfield (belying its limited overs nature, only eight boundary fours were consequently managed in the 86 overs that comprised the match).  Success initially proved elusive though, as helped by eight wides in the first nine overs, the Claremont openers Giles Fearon and Abdul-Azeem Obaray stood firm for over an hour to raise the fifty without loss.  Immediately thereafter Cape Town finally got the breakthrough they were seeking though, as wicket-keeper Rory O'Brien again started a new season in style by holding the first of his four catches to dismiss Fearon.  With an end now open, Luke Petersen in his next four overs found three more outside edges and helped induce a run out, and with assistance from his teammates the visitors were sent tumbling from 50 without loss to 78 for seven within the space of 15 overs.

Clinton Berkenshaw stood firm however, maintaining a healthy scoring rate of his own while nursing a further 48 runs from the eighth- and ninth-wicket partnerships.  It was a fine performance in trying conditions, ultimately proving to be the difference between the sides on the day.  Last man out after holing out to the impressive debut bowling of Andre Olwagwen, Berkenshaw's efforts thus enabled Claremont to reach a total that gave them some hope of successfully defending.

With Cape Town starting their innings needing less than three runs an over to win, run rate was not really an issue - victory or defeat would be determined by whether or not the visitors could bowl their hosts out.  Opening bowler Carson Lederle quickly demonstrated their ability to do this with two wickets in his first spell, and within less than ten overs the home side had slumped to 28 for four.  Marc de Beer and new skipper Jonathan Holgate briefly stabilised matters, but Claremont again exploited breakthroughs to reduce the home side to a teetering 65 for eight by the first over after the mid-innings drinks break.

Despite the match seemingly now done and dusted as a result, Holgate kept his head sufficiently to realise that the 69 runs still needed from the remaining 21 overs could still be achieved if their last two wickets could just hold out.  Last of the remaining batsmen, the burden of the run-scoring duties thus lay with him, but he received admirable defensive support for over an hour from Leseuer Keyser - the pair piecing together 40 for the ninth wicket to keep Cape Town's slim hopes of victory alive.  It would've indeed been fairytale stuff had they pulled it off, but reality is seldom that kind - once Berkenshaw finally broke the stand, the end came quickly.  It was an especially cruel twist that ended the match to deny Holgate one of the most thoroughly-deserved fifties one is likely to see - on 49 not out his firm drive back down the pitch was deflected by the bowler back onto the non-striker's stumps, catching last-man in Ryan Bekker out of his crease.

Match photo's & CTCC player wagonwheels / pitch maps