Hat-trick by Campbell inspires EP
A HAT-TRICK from Eastern Province bowler Campbell de Wet inspired them to a thumping nine-wicket victory over Free State at the Soweto Oval on day four of the 2017 Coca-Cola Khaya Majola week in Johannesburg yesterday.
De Wet was in brilliant form with the ball, sending down a fiery six-over spell, picking up five wickets for just 10 runs, as Free State were demolished for 88 all out.
“I was very stoked to get the hat-trick, I wasn’t expecting it and got two wickets at the end of the one over and then it was in the back of my mind during the next before I got the ball again,” he said.
“But for me it is more about doing the job for the team. It is a great personal milestone but I am just happy it helped the team win the match.”
In-form opener David Rushmere then powered his way to an unbeaten half century as they chased down the score in just 15.3 overs for an easy win.
The result was EP’s fourth win in a row, with their only blip over this week being their opening-match loss against Gauteng, and they will hope to continue their great form in their final match of the week today against Boland at St Stithians.
It will be an intriguing match-up as both teams have only lost one game against the hosts and they will be eager to end their campaigns on a high.
“We are very happy with the form we are in. It wasn’t an ideal start to the week and we said we wanted to win everything else and the guys have stood up and taken it from there,” De Wet said. “We now want to win our final game.” In the match, Free State got off to a decent enough start with a 30-run stand between openers Garnett Tarr and Pheko Moletsane.
Tiaan van Vuuren then started the slide, having Moletsane (18) caught by Neo Pepeta.
De Wet then took centre stage, removing Tarr (4), before picking up the wickets of CP Klijnhans (11) and Ruan Cronje (0) at the end of an over, and then removing them in the next to get Donald Machalotsa for a duck to seal his hat-trick.
De Wet then added Marx de Villiers (1) to his tally, leaving Free State on 52/6. Jade de Klerk and Keenan Smith then claimed two scalps each as Free State crashed to a poor total.
EP’s batsmen then looked as if they had a train to catch as they motored over the line.
Peter Jarvis (21) was the only wicket to fall, while Rushmere attacked from the start, striking nine boundaries and one maximum as he finished unbeaten on 55 off 44 balls.
Other results on the day saw Border crush KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng beat Boland, Namibia pick up their first win of the competition against Mpumalanga, Northerns beat KwaZulu-Natal Inland, while Western Province, South Western Districts and Easterns all claimed comfortable wins over Limpopo, North West and Northern Cape.
The teams will take on their final matches of the week today, with Gauteng taking on Border in the “unofficial final” of the week.