The West Coast Rollers completed a topsy-turvy season on a winning note following a 35-run defeat of MLC (Mid-Life Crisis) at Durbanville Cricket Grounds on Sunday.
Back to familiar hunting grounds for a lot of members of the team, there was also a sense of familiarity about the start after we lost the toss and were put in to bat.
Michael van Dewenter was bowled first ball of the innings for a Royal Duck, and George Kamfer followed a couple of balls later, also for a duck.
Worse was to follow when captain Neville Cooper skied a full toss to mid-off to leave the Rollers reeling at 3/3 off three overs.
Ryan Cooper joined birthday boy Tim Sant at the crease and together they went about restoring some parity to the party, putting on 55 for the fourth wicket before the former was bowled around his legs for 23.
Tim went soon after for 28 and, when Hannes Carlson skied one early in his innings, the Rollers were in a whole heap of shit at 77/6.
Enter Francois Geldenhuys and Cornell Keulder – two guys who owed the team some runs, and two guys who delivered on Sunday.
Together they put on 91 runs for the eighth wicket (the beauty of the lotto system!), with Francois reaching his maiden 50 for the Rollers in the final over, while Cornell finished unbeaten on 46 as we set an imposing target of 166.
Any thoughts MLS had of chasing down the target disappeared in the first nine overs following a devastating piece of bowling from Andrew Young.
Playing against a bunch of his former schoolmates, there was little friendship to be had as he picked up four wickets in his first five overs to leave them reeling at 24/4.
Dean and Stan put on 47 for the fifth wicket, but when Casper had the latter caught it was all but over. Jacques Laubscher came on bowling into the wind and took two wickets in his first two overs; Cornell got a brace from the other side, before Scooter bowled a 10-year-old to secure the 34-run victory.
Good fun was had after the game by way of fines and a braai, reflecting on a season in which the Rollers underwent a transformation and played some great cricket, even if results didn’t always go our way.
BATTING
Michael van Dewenter 0 Neville Cooper 1 George Kamfer 0 Tim Sant 28 (1×4) Ryan Cooper 23 (3×4) Francois Geldenhuys 52 (5×4) Hannes Carlson 4 Cornell Keulder 46* (4×4)
Extras 9 TOTAL: 166/7
BOWLING
Andrew Young 7-2-15-4 Michael van Dewenter 4-1-16-0 Hannes Carlson 7-1-41-1 Cornell Keulder 6-2-15-2 Tim Sant 4-0-19-0 Jacques Laubscher 4.5-0-20-3