On Wednesday the 27th November , the veterans and undefeated team from Fish Hoek made their way to the Rondebosch Oval.
Andrew Heiberg our captain together with a few other players were nursing injuries (what happens when you get older) and had to sit out this week. Stand in captain Paul Da Costa went out to toss the coin and after Fish Hoek’s captain Mark called incorrectly , Rondebosch decided to bowl first.
Peter Edwards took the 1st ball and proceeded to bowl with complete accuracy. Fish Hoek got off to a terrible start with Ross Holling pulling his calf muscle on the very 1st ball will trying to take a quick single ,something that doesn’t happen in the Veterans league too often. Paul Du Plessis our spinner again was trusted with opening the bowling from the other end. It seemed that we could have been in for a long day as his 1st couple of balls were dispatched to the boundary but the ever calm Dup ,started to weave his magic and picked up 2 quick wickets including Steve Palframan which started changing the structure of the game .
Peter carried on bowling line and length and restricted the run flow. Dave Higgins took up the end from Dup and proceeded to bowl with accuracy and was able to move the pink ball all over ,completely bamboozling the batsman even having catches dropped . Lee Child came on from the other end and decided to mix a few things up by bowling a few wides on the trot , but throwing in a few great balls that produced a wicket. After having another few catches dropped it seemed like Rondebosch wows were going to continue . However Paul Da Costa was able to catch one which seemed to change the tide.
Rondebosch Bowlers kept on coming and Keith Ingram was brought on. Keith’s spell was one of complete precision and pace and was able to wrap up the tail and pick up wickets every over finishing with 4 wickets. Dave Loebenstein completed the great bowling spell on the other end and finished with a wicket on the last ball to have Fish Hoek only posting 104 .
Rondebosch came into bat knowing that steady runs and flash shots weren’t needed to get to the total. Once again the low and slow Bosch oval was making batting hard .
Andre Geldynhuis and Paul Da Costa got Bosch off to a steady start. However Paul was sent back early and unfortunately Dave Bakker followed suit very quickly after that . Andre was helping himself to a few runs and hitting a few hefty blows. He was given a life by our fellow Bosch fielder Lee who was fielding for the injured Ross , but a couple of overs later Lee decided to “play fair” and took a great catch in the deep.
Dave Loebenstein tried to play back to the slow spin of Mike Wilson and proceeded to find himself trapped LBW. Dave Higgins and Keith started to steady the ship and produced a great partnership to get Bosch back on their way. David fell and in came Robin Thompson who was all jeered up from his impressive fielding display. He proceeded to hit some hefty blows but unfortunately holed out in the deep.
Meanwhile Keith was playing a man of the match innings (which he did win )and kept the board ticking ending unbeaten in the end but all the while ,getting us closer to the wining total. Peter joined him in the 17th over and was able to flick one off his legs to the boundary and take Bosch over the line in the 18th over.
Once again it was great day of cricket at the Rondebosch Oval.
Have a great break gents and see you all next year fit and ready.
Match Report Courtesy of Paul Da Costa.