Warriors go down fighting
Breetzke's maiden century fails to stem the tide for home side
A maiden century by Warriors opener Matthew Breetzke, an excellent spell of leg-spin bowling by VKB Knights bowler Shaun von Berg, and a fourwicket burst by medium-pacer Shadley van Schalkwyk, were the highlights of an actionpacked third and final day of the Domestic franchise match between the Warriors and the Knights at Buffalo Park in East London yesterday.
It ended well before tea with the Knights taking the honours by 10 wickets.
They fully deserved the victory, outplaying the Warriors throughout.
The visitors dismissed the Warriors for 141 on Tuesday after the opening day was lost to rain, then scored 362 in their first innings on Wednesday, before dismissing the Warriors for 262 in their second innings.
The Warriors started the final day on 99 for three wickets, 124 runs behind the Knights, with Breetzke on 47. He was joined by Sinethemba Qeshile but the latter did not last long, being bowled by Von Berg for two with the total on 116.
There followed a fine fifthwicket partnership between left-hander Lesiba Ngoepe and Breetzke which took the score to 182 before Ngoepe lost his wicket.
Before the lunch break Von Berg bowled a rare full toss; Ngoepe latched onto it and swung it lustily over the midwicket boundary for six. Moments later Ngoepe was dropped at short-leg off Von Berg but in the same over he launched a skier to the long-on boundary where he was excellently taken by Tshepo Ntuli for 35.
Kelly Smuts joined Breetzke but then off-spinner Ntuli came on and trapped Smuts in front for six at 196/6. New batsman Jade de Klerk stayed with Breetzke until the break.
Breetzke had moved his overnight score to 93 and looked well in complete control as he passed his previous highest first-class score of 80.
After lunch he went firmly through the nervous nineties to his century, hitting Von Berg for a boundary to bring up the three-figure milestone. His century came off 222 balls with 13 boundaries while he batted for 10 minutes short of six hours.
Forty minutes after lunch De Klerk punched a ball through the covers for four to bring the scores of the two teams level at 221. But soon afterwards he was on his way back to the pavilion for 19, a victim of Van Schalkwyk, who was bowling at a good rate. De Klerk had snicked the ball through to wicketkeeper Wandile Makwetu.
Andrew Birch joined Breetzke and the score moved to 245 when Breetzke had to go, a carbon-copy of De Klerk’s dismissal. The talented opener had batted for 413 minutes and faced 251 balls for his 109 and had come of age yesterday with his most responsible innings for the Warriors to date.
Thereafter it was a case of getting rid of stubborn tail-enders and it was Glenton Stuurman who was next to go, brilliantly caught and bowled by Van Schalkwyk for six at 261/9. One run later Birch was caught at a short mid-on position, again off Van Schalkwyk, for 21.
Van Schalkwyk had wrapped up the Warriors innings with 4/28, a reward for some accurate bowling. Von Berg finished with 3/83 and Ntuli 2/63.
The Knights needed but 42 for victory. Grant Mokoena, 23, and Raynard van Tonder, 21, wasted little time in reaching the target which was accomplished in only 5.3 overs.
The Warriors next play the Cape Cobras at Buffalo Park starting on Monday.