Having jumped straight to the top of the Premier League pile with their bonus point victory over Green Point in the first round of 50-over games the preceding weekend, Cape Town cemented their lead with a calm, workmanlike performance to down the University of the Western Cape at the Boon Wallace Oval by another bonus point-margin.
The students had elected to bat first, but found the going slow as the home side bowled a lot of dot balls. The loss of a relatively early wicket didn’t help the visitors’ cause either, and by 50 minutes into the match they had only managed to meander their way to 26-1 from the first eleven overs. Opening bat Nicholas Govender sought to address their slow progress by striking a six and then two fours over the course of three consecutive overs from the spinners, but he fell shortly after the first drinks break as wicket-keeper Jamie Marillier pouched a second catch off the bowling of off-spinner Lukhanyo Metu.
It was the start of a busy little period for Marillier, as he grabbed two more chances in successive overs off the medium-pacers of Nathan Johnson as well, and within half an hour the entire complexion of the game had changed as UWC slumped from 66-1 to 78-5. However, Cape Town alleviated some of the damage by sending down a generous ration of wides, allowing the lower middle order to settle in and avoid a complete collapse. Still, once Marillier had held his fifth catch of the innings and Metu – incorrectly granted an eleventh over by the umpires after failing to record a bowling change – his third scalp, things were nevertheless left looking grim for the students at 114-7 going into the final ten-over PowerPlay.
But in Tyler Williams they found a late saviour of sorts, and with the home side under pressure to complete their overs by the cut-off time, he found the part-time spin brought on the boost the over rate to his liking. Cashing in with two sixes in quick succession, he provided the lion’s share of a 53-run eighth-wicket stand with Asakhe Tsaka that at least gave the students a chance – albeit that matters then ended quickly when Jaden Rose returned to the attack to knock over the last two wickets in an over.
Still, an initial asking rate of 3½ to the over didn’t promise to be too challenging for the home side, and Marillier ensured that the students stayed firmly on the back foot by driving and pulling six fours in the first six overs – propelling Cape Town to 41-0 in that time. For once their skipper Tristan Coetzee found himself in the rare position of being outscored, but he quickly made up for it by striking four consecutive boundaries of his own.
Tsaka gave Cape Town some pause by picking up both opening batters in his first two overs of left-arm spin, but by then the home side had already posted 63 from the opening ten-over PowerPlay and had the required rate down an altogether manageable 2.8 to the over with eight wickets in hand. Tsaka remained bothersome throughout the rest of his tight spell, but Mathew Goles and Josh Chippendale played him out and then ground the students down by adding 64 in 15 overs for the third wicket, ensuring there would only be one winner in this contest.
Though Chippendale miscued with barely 50 still wanted, Goles continued to his third half-century of the season’s opening month (and his second in as many innings). Now allied with a new partner in Hilio de Abreu (and the team easily able to afford the luxury of him managing just a single from his first 18 balls faced), the pair knocked off the remaining runs in untroubled fashion, Goles driving and then cutting two fours in the 38th over to seal the bonus point win with an abundance of time, overs and wickets still in hand.
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