In the “one step forward, two steps back” fashion that has characterised much of the Cape Town Cricket Club First XI’s 2025/26 season, the renewed hope of their bonus point win the week before was reversed by an equally heavy defeat now at the hands of Bellville. Cape Town’s ninth defeat in eleven matches on home soil this season has now left them essentially requiring victory from both of their two remaining matches, if they are to avoid relegation to the First Division A next season.
Matters actually began very promisingly for the home side, as their skipper Tristan Coetzee won his sixth consecutive toss and, in slightly damp conditions following overnight rain that delayed the start of play for half an hour, put his Northern Suburbs opponents in to bat. The benefits on offer unfortunately proved rather fleeting, but for the first half-hour or so while they existed, Cape Town enjoyed a good period of domination. Their Lancashire import Jaden Rose bowled an immaculate opening spell of 6-3-8-1, while left-arm spinner Michal Lord took the new ball from the other end and bagged two scalps of his own.
The home side was thus firmly on top at the end of the initial ten-over Powerplay, with Bellville struggling on 23-3, but the killer blow could not be landed. It might’ve happened had opening bat Reece du Plessis had not been missed at slip on both 4* and 12*, but he survived to dig in and start converting his good fortune into an extended stay at the crease. By the time the first drinks break rolled around, he and Philip Kleynhans had stabilised the visitors’ innings at 52-3, and thereafter the pair increasingly began taking control of proceedings. Within four overs after the break the pair had reached a fifty partnership, and not 15 minutes thereafter du Plessis reached his fifty on debut in a Cape Town fixture with his fourth boundary. Kleynhans at the other end was turning over the strike nicely with an endless supply of singles, and it thus came as something of a surprise when du Plessis, who had progressed to 62 in his 34-over stay, fell while hooking a bouncer to end their stand on 95.
That brought a period of respite for Cape Town, as new man in Marcus Fourie took a while to find his bearings, but a couple of full tosses that he could sweep for four and then six eventually got him on his way too. By the second drinks break, Kleynhans had reached his own fifty, which remarkably included just one boundary – but no fewer than 33 singles. Still, at 149-4 going into the final ten-over Powerplay, Cape Town were still holding their own. Fourie then hit two quick fours as Bellville sought to up the ante after the break, only to fall immediately thereafter on the attack. However, that brought Wiehann Meyer to the crease for the final 7½ overs, and things quickly went pear-shaped for the home side from there. Cracking three fours inside his first two overs at the crease, Meyer made no secret of his intentions. Kleynhans began to find the occasional boundary too now, and within six overs the pair had suddenly added fifty together. There was seemingly nothing that the home side could do to staunch the gush of runs either, and with 28 runs coming off the final two overs, Meyer finished with 44 from just 27 balls. Kleynhans’s hard-working anchoring sojourn was also rewarded with 87 from a surprisingly moderate 91 balls faced – the pair finishing the Bellville innings with a flourish by adding an unbroken 81 off just 48 balls.
A victory target of 248 was always going to be asking a lot of the home side, but Coetzee seemed unfazed as he blazed four fours and a six from his first eight balls faced. However, tackling such a large target is an effort more reminiscent of an endurance event rather than a sprint, and having just hit the previous two balls for four and then six, Coetzee could not control the rush of blood to the head, and fell trying to smash the next ball as well. A second wicket followed soon after, but given their rapid start, and Josh Chippendale standing firm and profiting from putting away short and wide deliveries past point, the home side were still very much in the contest at 61-2 after the first ten overs of their reply.
That would change very dramatically when visiting captain Fourie brought himself on to bowl for the twelfth over though. In a stunning reversal of fortune, the left-arm spinner obliterated Cape Town’s middle order, taking three wickets with his first four deliveries. When first-change seamer Evert Carstens then had Chippendale edge behind off the first ball of the following over too, the home side had lost four for nought in seven balls, and at 63-6 their challenge was effectively done.
With nothing left to lose, Lord weighed in with the long handle from the outset, and was promptly put down before he had scored. He took advantage of the life given him to take 13 off the next over, and in reaching 20, he completed the run-scoring half of the double of 500 runs and 50 wickets in his Cape Town First XI career. Still, in continuing to hit on the up, he immediately offered another chance – only to be put down again. Meanwhile, Craig Jeffery at the other end had gone about his business in far less dramatic fashion, taking four fours off the first three overs after the drinks break to help Lord complete a desperately-needed fifty partnership for the seventh wicket.
With Lord now settling down to play a more responsible innings, the pair were still together by the halfway point of the Cape Town innings, and had edged their stand up to 70 over the course of 14 overs. There was still much work to be done though, and when Jeffery then fell, it essentially left the burden of scoring the last 120 or so runs off 23 overs almost squarely on Lord’s shoulders. By the second drinks break he had hit three sixes and five fours to reach the highest score of his Cape Town First XI career, but with seven wickets down and 87 still needed from just 16 overs, the odds were never looking particularly good for the home side. That was quickly confirmed when Carstens returned to the attack for his second spell, and had Lord caught on the boundary in his first over back. From there it was always just a matter of time before Bellville wrapped up the win, and Carstens duly provided it by knocking over the final two wickets too, in a spell of 3.2-0-14-3 to seal a bonus point victory for the visitors.
Leave a Reply