The Border semiprofessional cricket team suffered a chastening weekend away as they were thoroughly outplayed by South Western Districts (SWD) in Oudtshoorn.SWD took just two days to dispatch Border in their three day game and then followed it up by crushing them in the subsequent one day match on Saturday.
“We just batted poorly, that is just the bottom line,” said Border coach Frank Plaatjes. “We didn’t apply ourselves well and came short in the end.”
The results effectively end Border’s hopes of reaching the final of either tournament and they will now be looking to finish the season strong before looking onto the next.
“It will be difficult, but I think we are still in the three day competition,” said Plaatjes.
“If we can win two of our three remaining matches we will be back in it.”
Border sit fifth in pool A of the three day log on 60 points, 36 points behind the leaders and 32 behind second, and it will be very difficult to make up this ground in the remaining fixtures.
On the one day side it is a lot more clear cut as the six points garnered from five matches puts them too far behind to catch any of the front runners even if they win their remaining match and all other games go their way.
“With us out of the shorter formats I think it is a good opportunity to give the youngsters a go and give them a feel of the game,” said Plaatjes.
Border’s next game is at home against Boland in mid February, and it will be all about regaining their form so to give them some good momentum heading into the end of the season.
“We will be back playing at home. We play well here and I think it will give the guys a lift being back,” said Plaatjes.
In the three day match against SWD, Border won the toss and elected to field.
This looked to be a good call as the Border bowlers responded well by reducing SWD to 65/6. However, their innings proved to be a two-player effort as Sammy-Joe Avontuur and Glenton Stuurman shared in a 137-run seventh wicket partnership to revive the innings before Stuurman was dismissed for 86.
Avontuur, however, continued playing well and was finally last man out for 142 with SWD making 299 all out.
Border bowlers Phaphama Fojela 4/62, Lundi Mbane 3/46, Clayton Bosch 2/20 and Thandolwethu Mnyaka 1/75 took the wickets, but the unit will be disappointed that they allowed SWD to reach a respectable target when they had them in all sorts of trouble.
Border’s batting then left a lot to be desired as just five batsmen made it into double figures and the only real resistance came from opener Mkhululi Calana, who scored a battling 43 as they could only muster 119 in their first innings.
Forced to follow on Border began their second innings with a good opening partnership, but once Gionne Koopman (31) was dismissed with the score on 67 Border lost all 10 of their wickets for 99 runs.
Despite Calana again resisting with an innings high of 41 he couldn’t prevent Border from crashing to an innings and 14 run defeat.
In the one day game Border again won the toss and chose to field. However, a good all-round batting performance from SWD with Hanno Kotze (60) and Avontuur (47) top scoring allowed them to post a respectable 280/7 in their 50 overs.
Darryl Brown’s 3/43 in 10 overs was the pick of the bowling attack.
Border’s batting was then again exposed as they could only manage 149 all out. Four batsmen, Calana (29), Marco Marais (37), Christiaan Jonker (25) and Lundi Mbane (22) all got starts but could not kick on as Border fell to a 133 run defeat.
It was definitely not a happy three days for Border and they will do well to pick themselves up for the next match.
Hapless Border utterly outplayed by tough SWD
SWD took just two days to dispatch Border in their three day game and then followed it up by crushing them in the subsequent one day match on Saturday.
“We just batted poorly, that is just the bottom line,” said Border coach Frank Plaatjes. “We didn’t apply ourselves well and came short in the end.”
The results effectively end Border’s hopes of reaching the final of either tournament and they will now be looking to finish the season strong before looking onto the next.
“It will be difficult, but I think we are still in the three day competition,” said Plaatjes.
“If we can win two of our three remaining matches we will be back in it.”
Border sit fifth in pool A of the three day log on 60 points, 36 points behind the leaders and 32 behind second, and it will be very difficult to make up this ground in the remaining fixtures.
On the one day side it is a lot more clear cut as the six points garnered from five matches puts them too far behind to catch any of the front runners even if they win their remaining match and all other games go their way.
“With us out of the shorter formats I think it is a good opportunity to give the youngsters a go and give them a feel of the game,” said Plaatjes.
Border’s next game is at home against Boland in mid February, and it will be all about regaining their form so to give them some good momentum heading into the end of the season.
“We will be back playing at home. We play well here and I think it will give the guys a lift being back,” said Plaatjes.
In the three day match against SWD, Border won the toss and elected to field.
This looked to be a good call as the Border bowlers responded well by reducing SWD to 65/6. However, their innings proved to be a two-player effort as Sammy-Joe Avontuur and Glenton Stuurman shared in a 137-run seventh wicket partnership to revive the innings before Stuurman was dismissed for 86.
Avontuur, however, continued playing well and was finally last man out for 142 with SWD making 299 all out.
Border bowlers Phaphama Fojela 4/62, Lundi Mbane 3/46, Clayton Bosch 2/20 and Thandolwethu Mnyaka 1/75 took the wickets, but the unit will be disappointed that they allowed SWD to reach a respectable target when they had them in all sorts of trouble.
Border’s batting then left a lot to be desired as just five batsmen made it into double figures and the only real resistance came from opener Mkhululi Calana, who scored a battling 43 as they could only muster 119 in their first innings.
Forced to follow on Border began their second innings with a good opening partnership, but once Gionne Koopman (31) was dismissed with the score on 67 Border lost all 10 of their wickets for 99 runs.
Despite Calana again resisting with an innings high of 41 he couldn’t prevent Border from crashing to an innings and 14 run defeat.
In the one day game Border again won the toss and chose to field. However, a good all-round batting performance from SWD with Hanno Kotze (60) and Avontuur (47) top scoring allowed them to post a respectable 280/7 in their 50 overs.
Darryl Brown’s 3/43 in 10 overs was the pick of the bowling attack.
Border’s batting was then again exposed as they could only manage 149 all out. Four batsmen, Calana (29), Marco Marais (37), Christiaan Jonker (25) and Lundi Mbane (22) all got starts but could not kick on as Border fell to a 133 run defeat.
It was definitely not a happy three days for Border and they will do well to pick themselves up for the next match.
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