The West Coast Rollers produced a clinical, all-round performance on Sunday to beat Cape Town Cricket Club by 38 runs at the Boon Wallace Oval.
Victories have been few and far between in recent times, so winning two in a row is a bit of nose-bleed territory, especially for some of the newer members of the team.
But we got off to a great start against a very disciplined attack led by the evergreen Gavin Olhson (7-1-20-1), with Ryan Cooper and James Lamprecht putting on 49 for the first wicket before our resident lawyer was gunned LBW for an aggressive 33.
Marc de Beer’s (3/28) fiery spell soon accounted for Ryan (23) and Tom Stapylton-Smith (6), leaving the visitors at 70/3. But any fears of another infamous ‘Rollers roll’ were dispatched thanks to a brilliant and belligerent 89-run fourth-wicket stand between Jarryd van Wyk and Cornell Keulder.
Cornell eventually fell for 41, bounced out by the-almost-60-year-old Charles Reich (!), and when Jarryd was forced to retire upon reaching his half-century, the hosts clawed their way back into the game.
Still, Neville Cooper (12), debutant Dave Brill (13), Leon Theron (5), Ruan de Jongh (11*) and Nicky Rheeder (5) managed to get us to a more than competitive 216/9 after the allotted 35 overs.
CTCC’s start was a slow one, with Cornell (7-1-18-1) and Nicky (5-0-14-0) turning the screws as the hosts battled their way to 22/1 off the opening 10 overs.
But any hopes of an early afternoon to watch Liverpool thump Man City evaporated thanks to an aggressive partnership between Squirrel and Marc, who had put their team right back into the game when drinks were taken.
Jarryd (5-0-25-1) eventually had Squirrel stumped for 43, before some clever bowling from Mark Haselau resulted in Marc VERY quickly reaching his half-century and thus retiring.
It proved a shrewd move as the Rollers wrestled back control back of the game, eventually winning by 38 runs, with Ruan (2/9) proving the most successful bowler.
The post-match fines session was fun as always; the Rollers’ hammer proving too much for some, including our own Man of the Match Jarryd van Wyk, whose ‘well fed ego’ resulted in him looking worse for wear on the drive home.
SCORECARD
Batting
Ryan Cooper 23 (2x4)
James Lamprecht 33 (5x4)
Tom Stapylton-Smith 6 (1x4)
Jarryd van Wyk 56* (1x6, 7x4)
Cornell Keulder 41 (1x6, 5x4)
Neville Cooper 12 (1x4)
David Brill 13 (3x4)
Leon Theron 5
Ruan de Jongh (1x6)
Nicky Rheeder 5 (1x4)
Mark Haselau 0
TOTAL: 216/9
Bowling
Cornell Keulder 7-1-18-1
Nicky Rheeder 5-0-14-0
Tom Stapylton-Smith 7-1-22-1
James Lamprecht 3-0-34-0
Jarryd van Wyk 5-0-25-1
Mark Haselau 4-0-37-0
David Brill 2-0-12-0
Ruan de Jongh 2-0-9-2
Leon Theron 1-0-7-0