After two near-perfect performances against Kelvin Grove and Scorpions, the Rollers produced some of their worst cricket in some time to lose by five wickets to Bellville Willows.
And let’s be honest … when the Rollers stuff up, they do so in some style: five dropped catches played its part, but the most bizarre aspect of this day came in the batting.
Put in on a windy day, the Rollers were soon three down – without a run on the board!
Ryan Cooper took first strike, and was walking back after just one ball after nicking a jaffer from Sniggs to the keeper. The first ball of the second over and there was another Golden Duck – Scooter bowled by a vicious inswinger from Hardus.
But the drama was far from over – first ball of the third over and Casper was on his way back … gunned by Neville in what looked a pretty convincing LBW shout.
Nicky Rheeder restored some sense when he cut a lovely four for our first runs, but in the fourth over we were four down – Charl Viljoen bowled by the aforementioned Hardus.
So 8/4 … and deep, deep in shit street.
Enter the experience of Nico Rheeder, who cut, drove and edged his way to a very responsible innings of 31, putting on 33 with Nicky before he was caught in the covers off the fourth chance he offered.
Wayne Moore came in, hit a six first ball and was out the next, before Koeberg old boy Mark da Silva joined Slang for a 42-run partnership. He was eventually caught and bowled for a brisk 25.
Louis Pretorius – “our best batsman and best bowler” – added just seven before he was caught on the boundary, but Neville Cooper, batting at jack, and Haas added 22 for the last wicket before Neville was run out.
So 121 all out in 30 overs – a piss-poor effort, but still defendable.
Unfortunately, Ryan didn’t read the script and was moered for 27 in his first three overs. Louis was doing a sterling job at the other end though, picking up the big wicket of Dean Roux, who had come into this game averaging 348 – from three games!
Ryan jammied an LBW out of a seemingly drunk umpire, before Mark bowled a great spell of 6-0-14-2 to get us back into the game. Scooter also struck in his first over – a juicy full toss well held by Charl at square-leg, but that was one of the few highlights in an otherwise dismal fielding effort.
So defeat by five wickets; a very disappointing result after the resounding Scorpions win last week.
Once again the Rollers held their own in the after-match festivities, and hopefully next week those could get even bigger when we beat archrivals WPCC.
Player of the Match: Honourable mention for Mark da Silva, but for the second week running the honour goes to Nico Rheeder; this time for a responsible innings that saved us from certain embarrassment.