Rondebosch thump Bishops

THE curtain came down on schools cricket in Cape Town when Rondebosch hosted traditional rivals Bishops in their derby fixture on Saturday.

A powerful Bosch team with six provincial players in their line-up proved too strong for the visitors, winning by 133 runs.

Rondebosch won the toss and elected to bat on a batting-friendly wicket. They started cautiously, with openers Maahir Joseph and Jordan Neill watchful against a disciplined Bishops bowling attack.

Joseph (7) was first to be dismissed, trapped lbw by Ross Morgan, and when captain Fayaad Daniels (0) was bowled by Fayaad Domingo shortly afterwards, Rondebosch were 47/2.

It was left to Neill (55) to rebuild the innings, as he mixed caution with aggression to unfurl some attractive drives on either side of the wicket. His innings, which lasted 70 balls, included nine boundaries.

However, the Bishops attack was tight throughout, and at the halfway stage they had restricted Rondebosch to 105/4. It was a a tidy spell of off-spin bowling by Michael Kotze (2/25) that kept a lid on the scoring rate.

The middle order soldiered on with contributions from Bongile Mfunelwa (31) and Giyan Sulcas (29).

At 170/7 after 40 overs, Rondebosch had to rely on lower-order batters Raeeq Daniels and Jamie Ricketts to up the ante. Raeeq, unbeaten on 47 at the end, scored his runs off only 39 balls, with four boundaries and a six.

He was ably assisted by Ricketts (28), who struck two sixes and one boundary. They were largely responsible for Rondebosch reaching 253/9 in their allotted 50 overs.

In reply, Bishops made a slow start as they struggled against the pace of Cameron Fraser and the medium pace of Daniels, progressing to 44/2.

The introduction of off-spinner Raeeq Daniels (2/5) resulted in a mini collapse and at 58/5, Bishops were in a hole. While wickets were falling around him, Bishops captain Domingo battled valiantly to stem the tide. He top-scored with 40 (5x4 and 1x6) before he became the first victim of leg-spinner Ricketts, who ended with figures of 3/30.

Adam Constant (21 not out) was the other major contributor with the bat. Bishops were eventually dismissed for 120 all out as Fayaad (3/20) wrapped up the tail. It was a fitting end to the year, which saw Rondebosch suffer only one defeat at the hands of Wynberg in the first term.