Cavaliers crash in Thembalethu
Knysna Cavaliers Cricket Club's 2nd XI suffered their second straight loss when they lost by four-wickets to in-form Thembalethu at Imizamo Secondary School on Sunday 27 October.
They made the trip to Thembalethu off the back of a narrow loss at the hands of George Cricket Club the week before, while Thembalethu was heading into the fixture having won both its first two games of the season. With some rough weather during the early stages of the weekend, the groundsman and his team had little time to prepare the field for the match on Sunday, leaving tough playing conditions for the sides to endure.
Thembalethu would win the toss and elect to bowl first, sending Cavaliers' openers out to the crease hoping to set a solid platform for the away side. Once again, the Cavaliers top order struggled to get going as they soon found themselves at 42-3 with Japie Nel and in-form Alan Gerber at the crease. Gerber and Nel would steady the Cavaliers ship, with both keeping the scoreboard ticking over at a steady pace.
Gerber would perish four runs shy of his second straight half-century, having contributed to an 81-run partnership to steer Cavaliers to 123-4. Two more quick wickets would leave Cavaliers at 132-6 before Nel was dismissed for 54 as their top scorer. Cavaliers' lower order wasn't able to kick on this time around as they were tumbled over for 158, with the last seven wickets falling for only 35 runs.
After a quick innings break, Thembalethu's batsmen strode out on a mission to reach their target with minimum hassle. Thembalethu got off to a decent start, reaching 57-2 before lunch was called by the umpires. Their third wicket fell with 78 on the board, but a 68-run partnership between Thulani Bobotyana and Masixole Ngonyama would take the game away from Cavaliers.
Ngonyama was dismissed with Thembalethu needing only 12 runs to win, and two more wickets would revive a remote sense of hope in Cavaliers that by some chance they could pull a rabbit out of the hat. Thembalethu's batsmen remained steadfast, however, and hit the winning runs to secure a four-wicket victory, with Byron Jantjies again Cavaliers' top bowler claiming four wickets for 31 runs in 5.3 overs.