Bohs take 2016-17 Twenty20 championship
BOHEMIANS cricket club turned on the style to defeat Old Selbornians cricket club by 23 runs to become the Border T20 champions at Buffalo Park on Friday night.
It was a superb performance from Bohs as they set up a big total, before defending it well against the competition’s defending champions, allowing them to end their Border club season on a high.
It was a fitting reward for the team after they just missed out on the league title, with Fort Hare triumphing by just two points.
“We are happy with the season we have had,” said captain and coach Camagu Mbangi.
“We are a little bit disappointed with the league because we had high hopes of winning it. We have come second the last three years in a row, but we are more than happy with how things have gone overall.
“We have worked hard the last couple of years, and set some big targets for ourselves, but we have never won a trophy as a club, so this is our first one, and we really want to build on this and go on to achieve big things.”
At the start of the match Old Boys won the toss and elected to bowl, with Bohs batting well to reach 182/6 at the end of their 18 overs. A rain delay in the third over saw the players go off the field for an hour and the match was reduced to 18 overs per side.
Bohs got off to a quick start with Border player Marco Marais striking cleanly from the start and having taken Bohs to 32 in the third over Marais was then dismissed, caught by Royce Muller off the bowling of Ethan O’Reilly to depart for a 10-ball 22. This brought Jason Niemand to the crease to join opener Jonty Crainey and they set about building a superb platform for Bohs.
Crainey picked up where Marais left off and continued the aggression as Bohs passed 50 in the fifth over. The pair brought up their 50 partnership off just 23 balls and Crainey then went to his own half-century off 25 balls.
The carnage continued as they took Bohs passed 100 in the eighth over and then having just brought up their hundred partnership in the 11th, Crainey was caught by Muller off the bowling of Diego Jasson for a superb 38-ball 72 (9x4, 3x6).
In the next over Niemand was bowled by his namesake Tim Niemand, for a 21-ball slipped to 136/3.
Old Boys then pulled it back well in the final overs, while small cameos from Bruce Kennedy (13) and Luke Dallas (17 not out) helped Bohs reach their total.
The Old Boys’ chase then got off to a good start with Muller and Bradley Williams sharing a quickfire 32-run partnership before Williams, on 13, was caught by Crainey off the bowling of Josh de Kock at the end of the third over.
Muller continued playing positively, but new man Shaun Terblanche struggled a bit. The two took Old Boys past 50 in the sixth over.
A double strike in the eighth over then derailed the Old Boys’ chase as first Terblanche was run out by bowler Murray Spence off the first ball and then Muller was caught off the fifth ball for a well played 26-ball 35, as Old Boys slipped to 58/2.
Phil Badenhorst (28) and Damon de Villiers (18) then shared a 41-run stand in an endeavour to keep Old Boys in the match, but with the rate constantly rising the pressure continued to build.
Chris Beard cracked an entertaining 14-ball 31 (2x4, 2x6) but it wasn't enough as Old Boys ended well short on 159/6 as the overs ran out. 35 as Bohs