uThungulu batsmen wilt under Durban attack
Winning the toss and batting first, uThungulu just did not score enough runs to be much of a challenge to Durban in the deciding inter-district match played at the beautiful Chatsworth oval on Sunday. The superior Durban attack of Mario Saliwa 2/26, Kishun Kushen 3/10, both opening bowlers, and legspinner Zain Patel, with 3/39 in 17 overs, proved the stumbling block in uThungulu’s rather disappointing 130 all out in 49 overs. Once again, it was Garry Park, with a top score of 62, which included six fours, a useful 25 from Charl Groenewald and 10 from opening batsman Stefan Joubert that were the main contributors of uThungulu’s total. This was probably 70 runs short of what would have been a challenging total for the home team. While Park and Groenwald were at the crease, with a superb partnership of 75 for the fifth wicket, things were looking good. But once they were parted at 105, the innings folded badly.
Attack
But full marks to the Durban opening attack and their leg spinner, who cleaned up the tail.
Park was superb and, with the exception of Groenewald, the rest of the batting had no answer to the pace and accuracy of the opposition’s attack.
In reply, the Durban batsmen weren’t all that comfortable against uThungulu’s bowlers, who could have caused more problems for the home team had they had more runs to play with.
They bowled superbly and, with brilliant fielding adding to their effort, the batsmen didn’t have things all their own way.
M Pillay scored 32 and
A Moosa, their opening batsman, struggled a bit in the beginning, but then reached a top score of 44 to play a major role in his team’s victory in 36.4 overs.
Park 1/20, Donny Cloete 1/8, Johnny Hermitage 1/22, and Chad Neuhoff 1/22, were the wicket takers for uThungulu.
