Garden Route Badgers fall agonisingly short of victory
A brilliant all-round display by Knights player Dian Forrester, ruined the winning hopes of the Six Gun Grill Garden Route Badgers in their opening fixture in the Cricket South Africa Division 2 One Day Cup match that was played at the Recreation Ground in Oudtshoorn on Saturday.
Forrester, who made his provincial debut for the visitors, single handedly broke the Badgers’ hearts as he turned the outcome around with both bat and ball.
The Badgers, who won the toss, put the Knights in to bat, and had them against the ropes at 105/6 (in the 24th over), but Forrester (128 from 100 balls; 8x6, 9x4) and Clayton Bosch (64*; 2x6, 4x4) added 128 runs (from 144 balls) to take the Knights to a competitive 312/8 in their allotted 50 overs. Khwezi Gumede (2/75), Herschell
America (2/55) and Sintu Majiza (2/63) all bagged two wickets each in their ten overs.
The Badgers’ run-chase was well constructed and with their score at 294/4 the home side only needed 19 from 21 balls before Forrester destroyed their hopes with figures of 6/48 (including a hat-trick). The captain, Jean du Plessis, with an unbeaten 100 (from 94 balls; 2x6, 7x4), was left stranded, although he received valuable support from Ruan Terblanche (98 from 114 balls; 1x6, 12x4) and Kelly Smuts (65 from 40 balls; 2x6, 6x4).
The Badgers will need to go back to the drawing board when they play the Mpumalanga Rhino’s in White River on Tuesday 19 September.
They will host the Limpopo Impala’s at the recreation ground on the public holiday, Monday 25 September.