The protracted nightmare that has become the Cape Town Cricket Club First XI’s 2025/26 season showed no signs of allowing them to awake and escape its grip, as they meandered their way to yet another defeat – their tenth from their last eleven matches – this time at the hands of Brackenfell at the Brackenfell Sports Complex. Worse still, hitherto last-placed Rylands successfully achieved the seemingly impossible by simultaneously defeating log leaders Rondebosch with a bonus point – allowing them to leapfrog Cape Town and slip the latter down into the wooden-spoonist position instead. While relegation to the First Division A next season is not yet a fait accompli – by the end of the weekend Cape Town were a daunting eight points behind Ottoman as the nearest team outside the relegation zone, but with the dual advantages of having three games in hand over them, and Ottoman having just two games left to play (against the top two sides on the log) – Cape Town somehow must find a way to eke at least nine log points from their final five games.
Cape Town had won the toss and inserted their hosts under cloudy and humid conditions, but with their new-ball pairing failing to hit consistent lines and length, the home side got off to a flier instead. The first seven overs consequently produced seven boundaries – mostly driven through the off side as the visitors consistently overpitched – as Brackenfell raced to 43-0 in that time, and Cape Town were probably fortunate to pick up a wicket at that point when an overly-ambitious stroke was skied. But that scarce brought any respite, as Cody Nieuwoudt was well into his groove by then, scoring at faster than a run a ball. As a result, although new man in Rushdi Jappie took a while to find his feet, Brackenfell were nevertheless still sitting pretty at the first drinks break on 80-1 after 17 overs.
Once more fortune threw the visitors a lifeline, as Nieuwoudt carved the first ball after the interval straight to point, and then a close run out call went their way next over when Jappie was defeated by a direct hit, taking on the fielder for a needlessly tight single. That left the home side needing to rebuild with two new batters at the crease, but with Cape Town again having emphasised batting over bowling in their selection for the match, they lacked the outright firepower to drive home their opportunity. Denver Klue was thus able to get up and running with two relatively early sixes, while his captain Lee-Roy Walters at the other end was put down when 13*. Cape Town did their best to contain the damage, but the pendulum had swung away from them – the pair were still together by the second drinks break, having added 79 in 18 overs, with Klue having reached a 62-ball fifty in the interim.
With the final Powerplay beckoning, Brackenfell were consequently well-placed for a big finish. However, Klue holed out on the deep mid wicket rope looking for a fourth six, not long after which Walters, who had just pulled a long hop for six runs of his own to bring his fifty within sight, then unexpectedly slapped one straight to mid wicket as well. The home side’s lower middle order were thereafter unable to exert any dominance in the closing overs, Alex Draai returning to take three for three in his final two overs and overtake the now non-bowling Hilio de Abreu as the current squad’s leading career wicket-taker. Two further run outs helped to pave the way, and ultimately the visitors knocked over Brackenfell’s last six for 33 runs in the final eight overs of the innings.
Nevertheless, a victory target of 224 was still nothing to sneeze at, despite Cape Town having arrived with a batting-heavy team composition. However, aware of the turn that Cape Town’s spinners had achieved earlier, the home side opened the bowling with left-arm spinner Dayyaan Behardien – and helped by some loose strokes, within six overs he single-handedly cleaned up the visitors’ top four to effectively remove any last vestiges of the match continuing as a contest.
Josh Chippendale dug in sufficiently long to offer enough resistance for the fifth-wicket stand to double the total, but the introduction of Jappie’s off breaks at this juncture got things moving again for the home side. His spell of 7-2-12-3 was sufficient to kill off the remainder of Cape Town’s batting, and when Behardien returned to replace him, promptly completing his five-for, a listless visiting batting effort had tumbled disappointingly to 86-8 in just 31 overs.
With a Brackenfell bonus point win thus essentially already secured, number ten bat Michal Lord had free reign to weigh in with the long handle in a pressure-free situation clear of any expectations. Targeting the “V” region in particular, he consequently enjoyed a late brief flourish, mainly hitting Brackenfell’s spinners back over their heads for five fours and a six in completing his highest contribution of the season to date. It couldn’t last though, and Jappie wrapped up the game with almost twelve overs to spare, replicating his performance in the first-round match between the sides back in November, of 4-29.
Leave a Reply