Old Boys, Welwitschias triumphant

Tielman Van Lill
The first two one-day premier league matches for 2023 took place on Saturday in Windhoek, where AMH Motor Holdings' WHS Old Boys Cricket Club 1 and the MR24/7 Welwitschias 1 bagged two valuable league points each towards the white ball championship.
At Vegkop Stadium, Old Boys hosted Imperial Wanderers 1, taking revenge with a comprehensive five-wicket victory over the White Stallions.
Wanderers batted first with Niko Davin, Lo-han Louwrens, Karl Birkenstock, Nyasha Nyasha and Michale Durant (not out*) contributing 63, 28, 24, 29 and 29* runs respectively towards their score of 214 for the loss of seven wickets in 50 overs that included 15 extra runs.
For Old Boys, Shaun Fouché took two wickets for 48 runs in 10 overs, Donovan Zealand 2/45 in 10 and Malan Kruger 2/29 in seven. However, it was Zhivago Groenewaldt’s excellent spell of 1/20 in 10 that made him man of the match. He also bowled three empty overs when the visitors could not score a single run.
Old Boys’ runs came from the willows of Fouché (27), Divan la Cock (36), Kruger (48), Zane Green (36), JP Kotzé (26), Gerhard Janse van Rensburg (12*) and JW Visagie (8*) to reach 220/5 in 38 overs with 72 balls to spare. Wanderers conceded a whopping 27 extra runs.
For Wanderers, Danie van Schoor took 3/31 in seven overs, Christiaan Delport 1/29 in three and Davin 1/11 in two. Birkenstock did not take a wicket, but the 3.78 runs he conceded in his nine overs made him the most economical bowler after Groenewaldt.

Trustco United (156/9) vs Welwitschias (202/10)
The Welwitschias batted first and saw batter Samson Chivi (105) scoring more than half of his side’s runs (202/10 in 38.3 overs) to scoop up the man of the match award. Their tally included 33 extras to beat the home side by 46 runs.
Michael van Lingen (4/31 in 10), Handré Klazinga (3/53 in 7.3), KC Griffiths (1/29 in eight), Ramsay McDonald (1/12 in three) and Melrich Robyn (1/11 in four) took wickets for United.
McDonald (31), Henry Hayes (20), Van Lingen (24), Hendrik Van Der Walt (15), Klazinga (14) and Dickson Vambe (15) as well as 26 extras contributed towards United’s total score of 156 all out in 37.4 overs.
The Welwitschia bowlers Simon Shikongo with 4/29 in 10 and Justus Hangula (2/22 in 7.4) were deadly on the attack, while John-Eric Thierauch, Junior Kariata and Ricardo Strauss contributed one wicket each.

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