The taste of sweet success
Cuylerville, Station Hill win Pineapple Cricket trophies
Cuylerville and Station Hill cricket clubs swept to milestone victories on Saturday, as their respective finals at PAHS school fields brought the curtain down on an enthralling eight days of the 120th edition of Pineapple Cricket Week.
In front of a large crowd, Cuylerville cruised home by five wickets to retain their A section title against a competitive Sidbury outfit.
Station Hill trounced Salem by 146 runs in the B Section final.
Sidbury who outplayed Salem in the semifinal the previous day, batted first to compile a competitive but under-par total of 215 on the B field.
Sidbury openers Cliff Savage and Hugh Savage never really got going, and it wasn’t long before the latter was out, caught off the bowling off Richard Beyleveld for 14 in the fourth over.
Cliff Savage dominated a 49-run partnership with Campbell de Wet who made 12 off 20 before being bowled by Cuylerville fast bowler Frank Norval.
Brian Upman in next and fresh from a masterful 111 against Salem in the semifinal, was cautious at the start of his innings, before going on the offensive towards the middle and latter part of his well-played 42 off 45 balls, with seven fours.
By the time Upman trudged off with the score on 157, after being bowled by Beyleveld, he had put on 86 with Savage. Upman had earlier pierced the boundary rope four times in five balls as he tried to up the tempo.
Luke Birrell played well for his 26 but a promising partnership of 21 with Savage was ended by Cuylerville’s irrepressible captain Brandon Handley. The opener was out caught for 77 in the 37th over with the score on 179/4.
Six wickets then fell for the addition of only 36 runs with Birrell’s 26 the only innings of note. Handley had cleaned up Sidbury’s tail-enders to end up with figures of 5/27 to have the opposition bowled out for 215 in the 48th over.
Cuylerville were in early trouble at 51/3 after two early wickets by opening bowler Stefan Steebo got rid of G
Clayton and Charlie Muir, before a 69run partnership between Brent Emslie (44) and Neil van der Linde (50) steadied matters.
The pair put the innings on track when Cuylerville were in a spot of bother, with Emslie departing with the score on 120, well caught off the bowling of captain Damon Weeks.
Cuylerville’s “Captain Fantastic” Handley, strode to the crease knowing he had a job to do.
Van der Linde was already in to his stride until with his score on 50 from 49 balls, he was clean bowled by Weeks but not before he had peppered the boundary with nine fours and a six.
The score had progressed to 139/5 and Handley made sure there would be no jitters as he (54*) and Jurie Norval (22*) put on 77 to end on 217 and claim the victory by five wickets.
“Not winning the club league was disappointing but we’ve been really solid this week and it’s a good way to finish the season,” Handley said.
“I think today we were just better in the small areas … we bowled better areas and we probably batted with more intent than during the course of the season. It was something we wanted to work on and it did help.”
On the adjacent A field, Station Hill outbatted, outfielded and outbowled their Salem opponents to claim the B section trophy.
Star all-rounder, Franklin Jacobs’ 79 off only 37 balls and 7/47 with ball in hand proved to be Salem’s undoing and was a man-of-the-match performance.
Jacobs who opened the innings, saw batting partner, Marvin Groep, head back to the pavilion when, with the total on three, he dabbed at one and was brilliantly caught by Mike Mattisson off Corne Labuschagne. Zee Jaji who was involved in a partnership of 55 with Jacobs, played an attacking innings of 16 before being caught behind by Peter Amm off Labuschagne with the score on 69.
The in-form Rustin Baartman followed him back to the pavilion for four, after another take by Amm off
Mattisson. Station Hill were now 82/3, and Rudi Williams (18) weighed in with a crucial stand of 36 with Jacobs.
Once Williams was out caught by Amm once again and the score on 118/4, Station Hill soon found themselves on 146/6. Jacobs, kept up the tempo taking the attack to the bowlers and hitting boundaries at every available opportunity before he was caught off the bowling of Wayne Howarth to end on 79 that included 11 boundaries and two sixes.
Master blaster Linden Coltman was next in and did not trouble the scorers after being bowled for two by Ross Pittaway. Wicket-keeper Roy Mwalo followed quickly as the score moved to 159/7. It was left to skipper Cody Jones with a cameo of 26 off only 10 balls and Angelo Fraser (34*) to push their team to a competitive total of 225.
The two lower-order batsmen’s knocks proved invaluable as they put Salem’s bowlers to the sword in their ninth-wicket partnership of 64.
Station Hill took to the field at the change of innings with opening
bowlers Jones and Jacobs chomping at the bit. It was 39-year-old Jacobs’ who came to the party early on, to take the wickets of Ant Scheepers and Mattisson — both caught — in his first over.
Nine for two soon became 16/4 when Jacobs bowled Amm for eight and Jones had Pittaway caught for a duck. Any ideas Salem had of a fight back was once again stymied by Jacobs who had both Howarth and Michael van Staden leg before wicket for 14 and 0 respectively.
It was now 50/6 and with Station Hill “smelling blood” and the crowd’s voices growing ever louder, Jacobs cleaned up the tail, with Riaan Labuschagne’s 19 the only other innings of note.
The last wicket taken by leg-spinner Marvin Groep signalled the end for a deflated Salem who could only string together 79 off 18 overs, conceding defeat to an outstanding Station Hill by 146-runs.
“It’s a good feeling winning this trophy today,” Jacobs said. “Yes my performance was crucial, we really wanted to win this one.
“There was a slight collapse in the middle but we came through. I was really happy with the 225 runs on the board.
“The pitch wasn’t easy at all to bat on; it was unpredictable and I just focused and pushed through with my innings,” Jacobs said.
Co-founder and club chair, Andy Jones, said they worked hard for this victory and it was a proud moment for the club having won the title on the 120th anniversary of the tournament.
“I think we had a really good week as we were getting to 40 overs and pushing on towards 200 and upwards as we aimed to bat through our 50 overs as discussed in our prep talks.
“We last won this in 2017 and, as president of the club, my heart is really bursting with pride.
“We’d really like to thank our sponsors Derek Martin of Trevpar World, BUCO Port Alfred, Kekkel en Kraai, Wimpy, Mike Coleman, Dunlop PA, KHilpert Construction and Herotel/ Keanan
Hendricks for supporting us all the way,” Jones said.