The Rollers made it two wins from two this season following an emphatic 50-run victory against Scorpions at Distell on a blistering hot Sunday afternoon.
After an easy win against Warriors last week, many expected the Rollers to come up short against the traditionally strong Scorpions team. In fact, our good friend, FCA chairman Neil Watson, was one of those, commenting on Friday: “Not sure if Rollers will manage much against Scorpions…”
Spurred on by these words of wisdom, we went out hoping to set a big total, but it was tough going at the start as Coach van der Rheede used all his experience on a flat deck to keep Neville Cooper and Cornell Keulder in check.
He picked up Cornell’s wicket for eight, before Neville skied one to mid-on with his score on 14.
Ryan Cooper and George ‘Anchor’ Kamfer set about rebuilding the innings and put on 48 for the third wicket before the latter was caught on the mid-wicket fence for 34 off 29 balls.
Jakes Oberholzer came and went for the season’s first duck, before George had his marathon innings ended on 21 to leave the Rollers reeling on 91/5.
But up stepped Francois Geldenhuys, who took no mercy as he smashed 55, including one monster six which landed on top of the warehouse roof.
Michael van Dewenter (11), Hannes Carlson (7) and Darren MacGurk (5*) all chipped in before Francois Siebrits hit the last ball of the innings into the trees to set the hosts a challenging target of 173.
It was always going to be tough for Scorpions, and even more so when Ryan and Cornell picked up two early wickets to leave them at 34/2.
However, we did not count on the impact of one Dave Bakker, a former Dutch international with a penchant for finding the middle of the bat. He brought up his 50 with Scorpions’ total on 67, but eventually succumbed to the trickery of Casper for a brisk 52.
After that it was a steady precession of wickets, with Scooter continuing his good early season form as he picked up 3/26 in his seven overs. Cornell was even better, finishing with 3/10 from six overs as Scorpions were dismissed for 123.
All and all, a great outing for the Rollers with the batting working, the bowling tight, and the fielding exceptional, with Jakes rolling back the years and leading the way with some exceptional stops at short mid-wicket.
Next game against Edgemead on Sunday.
BATTING
Neville Cooper 14 (1×4) Cornell Keulder 8 (1×6) George Kamfer 21 Ryan Cooper 34 (5×4) Jakes Oberholzer 0 Francois Geldenhuys 55 (3×6, 3×4) Michael van Dewenter 11 (1×4) Hannes Carlson 7 (1×4) Francois Siebrits 10* (1×6) Darren MacGurk 5*
Extras: 7 TOTAL: 173/8
BOWLING
Cornell Keulder 6-2-10-3 Jakes Oberholzer 5-0-27-0 Ryan Cooper 4-1-10-1 Neville Cooper 2-0-13-0 Hannes Carlson 7-0-21-1 Jacques Laubscher 7-0-26-3 Michael van Dewenter 2-0-3-1