The similarities between Cape Town’s most recent clash with Durbanville (current defending champions, and recently unofficially recognised as the second-best club side in the country after finishing as runner-up in the National Club Championships) at the Boon Wallace Oval, and their first-round encounter back in October, were almost eery. On the first occasion, Cape Town had put their opponents in to bat, only to suffer through a big opening partnership, after which Durbanville skipper Fritz de Beer went on to reach a hundred that eventually set Cape Town a daunting 270-plus target to chase. All of those exact same things happened again this time around too – there was even just a one-run difference between Durbanville’s totals in the two games – with the exception that Cape Town fought back far more strongly in the second half of both innings this time around. The net result was still a comfortable Durbanville victory, but the home side could at least console themselves with limiting the damage to their net run rate, while also denying their guests a bonus-point win for their efforts.
The first appearance of Jonathan Draai for Cape Town this season gave the home side a better-balanced attack through an additional seam-bowling option, but by the time he came on to bowl in the 21st over, the visitors were already cruising comfortably at 90-0. They had been initially helped on their way by some wayward opening salvos from Cape Town’s new-ball attack, who sent down twelve wides and a no-ball in the first 13 overs. That certainly assisted the Durbanville opening pair of Jean Strydom and Fritz de Beer to post 50 together inside the first hour’s play. The latter was initially well content to turn over the strike with a multitude of singles, while Strydom marched purposefully to a 71-ball fifty reached soon after the first drinks break, during a sequence of four boundaries struck in quick succession.
It was eventually Draai who finally got the breakthrough for the home side just shy of the second drinks break, as having hit two sixes and ten fours in his 76, Strydom holed out to deep cover to end an opening stand of 123 in 28 overs. The visitors clearly earmarked that interval as their pivotal moment, as thereafter they pursued the runs with earnest. The first two overs after the break consequently brought 20 additional runs, as De Beer started to make up for lost time. Provincial opening bat Eddie Moore offered him fluent support with 26 from 32 balls, as the pair added a further 57 in eleven overs, and with Durbanville sitting pretty on 180-1 on the brink of the final ten-over Powerplay, Cape Town had it all to do.
But at this juncture the home side briefly found a higher gear, grabbing two wickets over the course of the next six overs, while conceding just 24 more runs. Off-spinner Jade Schoeman had initiated that counter-attack with the first of the wickets in what had been a very tidy bowling performance from him for the home side up until then. However, those two wickets did not include De Beer, who then slog-swept Schoeman for three consecutive sixes in his final over – ruining his figures somewhat and taking himself to the brink of another hundred. Daniel Lategan at the other end hit four sixes of his own in quick succession as well, as he and De Beer seized back control in clobbering 65 runs off five overs – with De Beer in the process storming to a 126-ball century that included four sixes and eight fours. They both fell in the final two overs though, robbing the Durbanville innings of some closing momentum, but they had nevertheless done enough to ensure an imposing total that the home side was clearly not expected to have any business chasing down.
Indeed, to stand any realistic chance of tackling such a daunting target, Cape Town needed another swashbuckling innings at the top of the order from their skipper Tristan Coetzee. However, he had to retire hurt early in the chase after being hit, and though he did resume his innings later, it was just to hole out on the boundary almost immediately after returning. In the meantime, Durbanville’s new-ball attack had proved far more frugal than their counterparts had been. At 12-2, and with Coetzee additionally off the field, the home side quickly found their backs against the wall, but Lukanyo Metu (taking advantage of an early life granted to him) and Justin Gilliland joined forces at this point to start wrestling Cape Town’s way back into the match. Gilliland hit four fours in quick succession to raise the team fifty, and the pair were still together – and on the brink of a fifty partnership – by the first drinks break.
Still, by now the asking rate was already nudging up towards seven an over, necessitating the home side to start finding ways to up the scoring rate. The visitors’ Jersey leg-spinner Ben Ward was selected as a potential avenue in this regard, and though Gilliland hit him back over his head for six to complete the fifty partnership, he had Metu caught behind in the same over. Two further scalps followed in his next three overs too, as Cape Town continued to attack, and at 90-5 after 26 overs as a result, their challenge seemed all but spent.
But Gilliland was still there, and he began to marshal some support from the lower middle-order. Ward continued working his way through the line-up as he bagged a fourth wicket, but by then Gilliland had reached a 69-ball fifty and was making his presence felt. Having him missed in the field immediately after reaching his milestone did not help the visitors’ cause, but having pulled the part-time off-spin of Lategan for six to reach 76 – the second-highest score of his Cape Town First XI career to date – he went again two balls later to find the waiting outfielder this time.
That left the home side on 135-7 after 36 overs, and it seemed but a formality that Durbanville would wrap up the tail and claim the bonus-point win as further fuel for the successful defence of their title. However, Alex Draai remained at the crease, and though he had managed just eight singles by the time that number ten bat Schoeman joined him once opening bowler Jody Lawrence had picked up his second scalp, that was all about to change. A lofted drive over extra cover set Draai on his way, and once Schoeman – who had hitherto not yet reached double figures with the bat – joined the party by carving Lawrence over backward point before pulling handsomely over mid wicket next over, the fight was suddenly on. Twice in consecutive overs Draai deposited Lategan over the wide long on rope to enter the 40s, sandwiching another pull for four by Schoeman, to complete Cape Town’s first 50 partnership for the ninth wicket since March 2017.
Lategan had his revenge at this juncture by castling Schoeman, and though a Durbanville victory was not in doubt as the home side’s last man walked to the crease with 72 still needed, their bonus point was suddenly not looking nearly as secure. Draai’s third six, in the penultimate over, took him to the brink of a maiden fifty for the Cape Town First XI, and left them just eight to get from the final over to deny the visitors that bit of icing on their cake. That eventually came down to six off the last two balls – which Cape Town duly achieved when the penultimate ball went for four byes, before Draai crashed the final delivery back down the ground for four to reach a 51-ball fifty of his own.
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