Rollers end five-game losing streak

It’s been a tough old season for the West Coast Rollers, but there is some light at the end of the tunnel after a 36-run victory against Claremont Gents on Sunday.

A decimated core, injuries for days and a five-match losing run had the morale running at an all-time low, but there is nothing like a good victory against some strong opposition to reignite the spark.

With lots of rain around and the pitch under covers for some time, the Gents had no hesitation in opting to bowl first - and it didn’t take too long to see why. Gary Riley (2/23) had it on a string with his left-arm seam, swinging it one way and nipping it the other to have Rohan van der Mescht (2) and Neville Cooper (1) back in the hut early on, while Steven South did his best Shane Warne impersonation to have Jacques Labschagne bowled around his legs for a duck.

At 11/3, it looked like another ‘L’ was heading our way, but Ryan Cooper and Hannes Moore combined for a 56-run, fourth-wicket partnership to steady the nerves ever so slightly before the stand-in skipper holed out to long-on for 35. Given the conditions, we were still reasonably happy at 81/4 in the 19th over, but the wickets of Hannes (29) and Hennie Cloete (3) in consecutive deliveries left us in a hole. 

Enter debutant Rudolph Pollard (42 off 29) who, along with Bryan Bowler (18), added 43 for the seventh wicket to get us back in the game. Kobus Muller (14*) and another debutant, Anton van der Mescht (10), added some late momentum as the Rollers finished on 171 all out.

Now a target of 172 at Claremont is usually a cakewalk, but given the nature of the wicket and a slowish outfield, we felt reasonably confident - more so after a mid-innings cloudburst added some extra juice to the surface.

And, as is so often the case, Michael van Dewenter made the most of the conditions, dismissing both Henning Swanepoel and Jacques Engelbrecht inside five overs, before Pollard bowled an absolute peach to castle Giscard Collard for a duck.

Enter Steven South, who went from impersonating Warne to doing a right-handed Brian Lara on us as he pulled (on one leg, nogals!) and flicked the bowling to all parts before holing out to deep cover for 31 off 20.

Spin twins Anton (1/26) and Ryan (3/16) then ripped through the middle-order and, despite some late heroics from Gary (24 off 28), the Rollers held on for a 36-run win.

Some special mentions to Gis and his team who fought hard for the game to go ahead despite the weather, and to the guys who stepped up for the Rollers at the last minute when it looked like we may have to cancel due to a lack of players.

Cheers Gents, an absolute pleasure as always!