Maties ended Pukke’s unbeaten record in third edition of Varsity Cricket as they joined them in the semi-finals.
The Maties side showed the NWU-Pukke how to use a Powerplay Plus over as they put a stop to the unbeaten record of the home side. They won the match by four wickets with seven balls remaining.
The men from Stellenbosch won the toss and elected to send in the opening pair of the NWU-Pukke to the crease.
Jay Stevens from Maties, with a brilliant catch, claimed a huge wicket of the dangerous Janneman Malan for just 1. He came into the game in top form, but left his team 10-1 after 1.1 overs on the scoreboard.
A huge wicket came for Maties when there was a misunderstanding between Ackerman and Lubbe. The visitors managed to get the wicket of captain Lubbe (10) as he left his team on 24-2 after 4.1 overs.
The 100 came up in style for the NWU-Pukke, but they couldn’t celebrate long, as Marques Ackerman (50) departed just after his 50 runs off 42 balls to put the home team 103-3 after 13 overs.
The hands of Maties’ Neil Botha secured another NWU-Pukke wicket as Dadswell departed for 42 runs off 27 balls with NWU-Pukke on 114-4 after 14.1 overs on the board.
Edrich Lubbe came to the crease but could unfortunately not join the batting party as he was caught off guard by an LBW and departed for a golden duck to leave the home side on 114-5 after 14.2 overs.
Wickets tumbled quickly with the dismissal of Jovaun van Wyngaard (1) followed by Lesego Senokwane (0) who joined the golden ducks with Pukke on 117-7 after the 15.5 overs.
A brilliant over was bowled by Stevens from Maties, as the NWU-Pukke called the Powerplay Plus over. They added only 12 runs to put their score on 144-7 after 19 overs.
The NWU-Pukke ended their innings on 157-7 after 20 overs.
After half time, Tyler Smith and Fenito Mehl from Maties stepped to the crease to put them 32-0 up after 3.3 over. Mehl (10) departed with a great catch by the youngster Bantu Dandala, as well as a great catch by Janneman Malan to dismiss the wicket of Tyler Smith (15) from Wihan Lubbe’s bowling to put Maties on 34-2 after 6 overs.
Dandala also contributed to the wickets as he claimed the wicket of Jean Bredenkamp (13) who left his side on 55-3 after 9.1 overs. Matthews and Lubbe teamed up to steal the seventh wicket of Gafieldien (10) as Maties tried to bat their way to 158.
Van Wyngaardt joined the party when he took the wicket of Gerhard Janse van Rensburg (5) with Maties on 86-5 after 13.4 overs. Another strike by Van Wyngaardt had Nathan Mnomgezuluas (8) walking back to the dugout. He departed for 8 runs of 10 balls.
Maties called the Powerplay Plus over in the second last over as Botha and Erasmus each hit two sixes to put an end the NWU-Pukke’s unbeaten record.
The last over of the match belonged to the Maties side as the won by four wickets with an over to spare.
In results elsewhere, Tuks won their final group stage match by beating the Madibaz by 36 runs, while UWC bagged a consolation victory against Kovsies. UJ then comfortably beat UCT by seven wickets to reach the final four.
Photo: Mario van de Wall/Saspa
