Having lost a last-over thriller to Groot Drak last week, the Rollers took it to the last delivery on Sunday against Durbanville – and ended on the losing side once again.
It was a first ever game against Durbanville proper, and it resembled something of a homecoming for half the team, who used to call the club home.
Mike Brown won the toss and had no hesitation to bat, knowing how low and slow the pitch becomes in the afternoon.
However, the Rollers – and Cornell Keulder in particular – started like a house on fire and had four batsmen back in the shed with only 30 on the board, with Cornell returning figures of 3/9 in five.
Old heads Rory Harris and Lofty De Beer counter-attacked and launched a few massive sixes, before Mike and Parks ran the Rollers ragged in a 80-plus-run partnership which propelled the hosts to 220/7 in 35 overs.
Having scored 200-plus against Groot Drak, the Rollers’ batsmen had some form under their belts and got off to a flyer in the face of some serious chatter from the slip cordon.
Cornell smashed six boundaries in his 28 while Ryan Cooper retired on 53. Still, the runs continued to flow as Michael van Dewenter (29), Neville Cooper (31) and James Lamprecht (28) all got stuck into the bowling.
However, the game swung again when Dean – fresh from a second ball duck – came on to bowl. He ran through the middle order to claim 5/36, but some lower order scrambling from Hannes Moore and Nico Rheeder (including a first six this century) took it to the last over, with seven runs needed.
Two run outs in the final over left us needing four off the last ball, but it wasn’t to be.
The Rollers earning themselves ‘choker’ tags with two last-over defeats, but it was a brilliant game and the post-match fines left a few feeling worse for wear the next day – including this author…