Mixed fortunes for Gobabis eleven at Otjiveruke
Cricket
Josue Celliers (61 not out) of Gbobabis scored the only fifty of the weekend.
The Gobabis cricket team had mixed success with one victory and one defeat in their two T20 fixtures played in the Nedbank Desert Ice Challenge last Saturday – both played at the Omatako Oval on Farm Otjiveruke in the Otjozondjupa Region.In the morning match, Gobabis took the winning points against Unam Zebras Strikers, but were beaten by Green Mambas in the afternoon.
Gobabis (134/3 in 18 overs) beat Unam Zebras Strikers (132/9) by seven wickets, with two overs to spare.
The Strikers’ total was built around Jignesh Panchal (32 off 39 balls, four fours) and Parkash Kothari (29 off 20 balls, 5x4), while also benefiting from 28 extras (20 wides, five no-balls).
Drikus Swart’s right-arm medium pace stood out in the Gobabis bowling attack, yielding four wickets for 22 runs on three overs (12 dot balls). JP Blignaut’s three overs of right-arm medium bowling was the most economical contribution (1/10; 3.33 per over), while Anda van Wyk took 2/21 in two overs.
Gobabis lost openers Tatenda Sithole (11) and captain Keith Kondo (4) cheaply, but Josue Celliers (61 not out off 61 balls; seven fours) found a partner in Adriaan Coetzee (26 off 31; 3x4) to take the score from 17/2 to 110/3.
Celliers was named player of the match.
• In the afternoon match, Green Mambas won the toss and elected to bat first, reaching 173/5 before restricting Gobabis to 143/8 to win by 30 runs.
Green Mambas’ main batters were opener and captain Dieter Vogelhubert (50 off 44 balls; 3x4 4x6), number four Christian Schumacher (45 not out off 28 balls; 4x4 3x6) and Jaco Schoonbee’s whirlwind cameo of 36 not out off 11 balls (5x4, 2x6) to record a strike-rate of 327 percent.
JP Blignaut bowled well again (3/21 in 4 overs; 12 dot balls, economy 5.25) for Gobabis, supported by Drikus Swart (1/31 in 4).
Gobabis’ reply looked promising when they had Henré Opperman (32 off 23 balls; 3x4 1x6) and Tawanda Sithole (25 off 21 balls; 3x4 1x6) batting together for the second wicket. However, the travellers from Omaheke Region suffered a collapse from 68/1 after 7.3 overs to 86/5 in 11.3 overs.
JP Blignaut (17 off 22) and Adriaan Coetzee (23 not out off 12 balls; 1x4 1x6) tried in vain to get Gobabis within reach of the target.
Player of the match was awarded to Christiaan Schumacher (45 not out and 2/31 in 4 overs), while Shaun Eastes (3/16 in 4) also contributed vital breakthroughs for the Green Mambas.
• The Over-40s team forfeited their two scheduled Sunday matches against Cricket Generation and CCD.
SERIES’ LEADING BATSMEN (most runs)
1 Willem Groenewald (Tsumeb) 312 runs in five innings (highest 78).
2 Henré Opperman (Gobabis) 225 runs in six innings (highest 64).
3 Nicol Loftie-Eaton (CCD) 195 in four innings (highest 125).
4 Wessel Myburgh (Over-40s) 191 in two innings (highest 115).
5 Alexander Volschenk (Run Whisperers) 181 in two innings (highest 134).
SERIES’ LEADING BOWLERS (most wickets)
1 Gerhard Genis (United) 9 wickets in 10 overs.
2 Drikus Swart (Gobabis) 8 wickets in 14 overs.
3 Willie Swart (Gobabis) 8 wickets in 10.5 overs.
4 William Lottering (Cricket Generation) 7 wickets in 14 overs.
5 John-Erich Thierauch (Cricket Generation) 7 wickets in 13 overs.
6 Maritius Ngupita (Cricket Generation) 7 wickets in 19 overs.