Emakhandeni on the verge

EMAKHANDENI are one win away from making the final of the National League and two of their players are rewarded with Zimbabwe A call-ups. .

EMAKHANDENI are one win away from making the final of the National League and two of their players are rewarded with Zimbabwe A call-ups. .

The Kolkata Knight Riders are India Premier League (IPL) champions again and Sri Lanka defeats England in the one-day international (ODI) series.

Local side Emakhandeni Cricket Club put their national league fate in their own hands as they defeated a hapless Old Malvernians by 104 runs at Queens Sports Club. Emakhandeni are now at the top of the table with two wins from as many matches.

Their opponents in this week’s match, Country Club, also have two wins from as many matches, so basically the winner of this weekend’s clash will go through to the final. It should be an interesting game of cricket at the same venue this Saturday.

The local side found the going though early on and were powered to a competitive total by hard-hitting lower order batsman Steve Chimamhiwa. They eventually ended up on a competitive 153. There was only ever going to be one team in it when Thabo Mboyi produced a brilliant first over picking up three wickets.

The most hilarious part was, it could have been four, but after the batsman skied a return catch Mboyi shouted “mine!” loudly and positioned himself under the ball. For reasons best known to him, he did not get a hand on the ball. I wonder how many opportunities he will get to take four wickets in one over in his career. In the early stages of the match the Harare outfit was four-for-four wickets in three overs. They managed to get to 49 all out, handing victory to Emakhandeni by 104 runs.

John Nyumbu and Brain Chari have been rewarded for their strong showing lately and have been included in the touring party that is travelling to Bangladesh from June 28. Congratulations are in order for the two and I still feel Chimamhiwa and Nkosana Mpofu cannot be too far from selection.

It appears the team has included a few youngsters that are the future for the sport in the country.

Experience is key, but On the Crease wonders if the inclusion of players like Mark Vermeulen, no matter how well he has done recently is the best thing for the future of the game.

  • Kolkata Knight Riders won the IPL crown for the second time in their history. It was an entertaining final and not many people would have predicted the way it would go down. The Kings X1 batted first and got 199. This was a surprise because all their big name players failed to deliver on the day in question.

    Glen Maxwell was out for a first ball duck. Virenda Sehwag, George Bailey and David Miller all did not contribute much to the score and the bulk of the run scoring was done by the younger Indian players.

    Wriddhiman Saha proved that his call-up to the national side was justified with a brilliant half century. Even the bowling didn’t go according to book and the usually economic Sunil Narine was belted for 19 in one over and went for more than 40 in his four overs.

    The run chase was uncharacteristic in that Robin Uthappa got no runs and neither did their other big names Guatham Gambir and Shakib al-Hassan.  Yusuf Pathan blasted 31 in no time, but got out when his side needed him most. Manish Pandey kept them in the hunt with a very brilliant knock.

    Mitchell Johnson, despite taking two wickets was very expensive. I think he had the most telling moment of the game when after bowling five full deliveries in the penultimate over, he inexplicably tried a short ball for his final delivery and was hooked into the stands for six. This meant the Knight Riders required just four in the final over. They achieved their target with three balls to spare.

    I will miss the IPL as my evening entertainment won’t be the same for a while. I know this is a cricket forum, but maybe the Fifa World Cup will fill the viewing gap for a while.

  • Sri Lanka has completed a double in both coloured clothing versions of the game over England. After winning the one-off Twenty20 match they won the ODI series 3-2 with a tighter than needed to be chase of 219 in the decider.

    England seems more concerned about the goings on in other countries than their own game. They are not as worried about losing matches at home than they are about who is running cricket in other member countries where they poach most of their players from.

  • We have arrived at the letter Z. I will give away a ticket to the next international game at Queens to anyone who can give me a cricket term that starts with the letter Z, Google and I don’t know any.