Having been unsuccessful in their off-season legal challenge to retain their position in the Premier League, the Cape Town Cricket Club First XI’s first match back in the First Division A since April 2012 was an unhappy affair from the outset. Even the weather was miserable – greeting the start of the new season with overcast conditions and a cold, blustery wind – while proceedings on the field of play itself were hardly any cheerier.
Losing the toss, Cape Town were inserted on a typical early-season pitch, surrounded by an infield of heavy grass that killed off much of the value from shots played. The Plumstead-based outfit was unable to adapt effectively to these conditions either, and finding themselves up against an impressive Edgemead fielding outfit – they missed a sharp catch in the very first over, but thereafter comfortably caught everything that came their way – their innings was a continuous struggle for any kind of momentum at all.
Opening bowler Reeve Cyster needed just two deliveries to capture the first wicket of the season, and in his following over dismissed the other opening bat as well to put Cape Town on the back foot from the outset. Jordan Bowers threatened for a while to get his side back on track, hitting two fours and a six in his 32-ball knock of 28 – the best of his short Cape Town First XI career to date – but once his mishit off left-arm spinner Jorgan Pettenburger was held on the boundary, no-one else was able to continue his progress. By the end of the twelfth over, Cape Town consequently had not yet reached 50 runs.
Worse was to come in the middle overs though, as first Edgemead skipper Duane Abel conceded just seven singles and a wide from his four overs of off-spin, while Pettenburger at the other end then reaped the benefits of the pressure thus created – picking up three wickets in his final two overs as he thwarted all attempts to hit out – reducing Cape Town to 72-8 with just 4½ overs left to them. Their last-wicket pair were not long in coming together thereafter either, when Reeve Cyster returned to strike almost immediately. Ultimately it took an inventive career-best knock of 20 from 14 balls from number eleven Jade Schoeman to get Cape Town to a three-figure total, 18 of those runs coming from overs 18 and 19, until Pierz Cyster ended the innings with his second scalp, with just one delivery remaining.
Given their own scoring struggles, it didn’t seem impossible that Cape Town might yet defend their meagre total of 104 successfully – especially when left-arm spinner Michal Lord took the new ball and struck in his opening over. He would ultimately concede just twelve off his four overs, besides picking up a second scalp, but with the standard of Cape Town’s fielding being well below that showcased earlier by Edgemead, the rest of the attack couldn’t build any consistent level of pressure.
Instead, opening bat Sean Dednam demonstrated a successful approach in the conditions – unable to find the boundary at all throughout the first ten overs of the Edgemead innings, he adapted to secure a regular flow of ones and the occasional two instead, keeping the scoreboard ticking over in a brisk second-wicket stand that was worth a few more runs than Cape Town could probably afford to concede. Still, once Dednam eventually holed out in the eleventh over, playing one of his few outright attacking shots, the outcome had still not yet been decided – Edgemead had some work yet to do, requiring 57 from the final nine overs.
Unfortunately for Cape Town, they had just the right man for the job in Daniel Haschick. First providing the bulk of a quick stand of 23 for the fourth wicket from just 20 balls, he was instrumental in bringing the equation down to 35 wanted from six overs. With the scales thus already increasingly tipping in Edgemead’s favour, the game was then effectively decided at this juncture: Haschick was dropped twice in one over, enabling him to find two crucial boundaries as 21 runs came from overs 15 and 16. A swept six off Craig Jeffery’s leg-spin brought up the Edgemead 100 in the 18th over, and though Haschick then tamely gifted his wicket next ball with a badly-fudged reverse-sweep, falling for a decisive 35 from just 24 balls faced in difficult batting conditions, it mattered little. The scores were tied by the end of that over, and there was no possibility of Cape Town preventing Edgemead from scoring the one run still needed from the final two overs.
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