With the NL team hosting Watsonians on Saturday and a couple good results over them last year, the confidence was high with the team. Added to that, SDCC saw the return of Henk Conradie and we wanted to make it tough for him to return to people's park.
Following a good toss, SDCC choose to have a bat on the surprisingly bouncy People’s Park wicket (Martin had done a great job!) After a slow start following the loss of Brayden (4) and Jordan (9), it was Captain Zeus who once again stepped up and held one end before he was finally dismissed for 62, that included a couple of elegant straight drives off ex black cap’s bowler Andy McKay. SDCC had wickets in hand and following some good partnerships, SDCC were able to post a respectable 253 for 4 off our 50 overs. This was greatly assisted by Jack (48) through the middle overs, DJ Aker (71* including four 6s) and Matt (37* off 23 balls).
Wastsonians reply was swift and brutal. SDCC were unable to find the right lines and lengths that we needed early enough and some clean hitting from B. O’Connell (99 ), took the game away from us. M. Carson completed the job for Watsonians with an unbeaten 72* as they chased down the total with only 2 wickets down in the 32nd over.
Going into the match, Wastsonians were tipped by some to be the dark horse in the title race this year with the additions of McKay and Conradie to their existing players. They were worthy winners. However, SDCC can take a lot of positives from the game in particular with the batting performance where the ability to keep wickets in hand, allowed SDCC to score a good total.
Watsonians MoM: O’Connell for his 99 that took the game away from SDCC.
SDCC MoM: DJ Ahklaq for his 71* and 1-51.