A brilliant century by JJ Smit steered Wanderers to a crushing 107-run victory against CCD in their T20 Premier League encounter on Saturday.
It was their second successive victory in the tournament after a commanding 75-run win against WHS Old Boys the previous weekend, which leaves them as the only unbeaten team in the league and clear favourites to win the title.
On Saturday, it was the JJ show as he hit CCD’s attack to all corners of the Wanderers ground to pile up a blistering century.
Wanderers’ openers JC Balt and Niko Davin had already given them a good start, putting on 58 for the first wicket before Davin was dismissed for 18.
Smit took a while to get going, and by the halfway mark Wanderers had reached a modest 68/1 with Smit on 5 and Balt on 33.
From then on, though, it was carnage. Smit hit his first six off Donovan Zealand in the 12th over and two overs later scored 19 off Pikkie Ya France’s over, including two sixes and a four.
In the 13th over he smashed three sixes and a four off Junior Kariata, to reach his 50 off 27 balls, and then in the following over, he smashed another three sixes and a four off Zealand.
Balt, meanwhile, was also in fine form, reaching his 50 off 43 balls, but the real action was at the other end as Smit smashed four sixes off Simon Shikongo’s penultimate over. He eventually finished on 118 not out off 46 balls which included four fours and 13 sixes, while Balt contributed 64 not out off 53 balls, in an unbroken 164-run partnership as they amassed 222/1 off their 20 overs.
CCD never came close. Already missing top batter Nicol Loftie-Eaton through injury, they regularly lost wickets and seldom troubled Wanderers’ bowlers.
Zealand top-scored with 34 off 35 balls, while Ya France added 24 off 12, but they could only reach a modest 115/7 off their 20 overs as Wanderers completed an emphatic win.
Jan Izak de Villiers was Wanderers’ stand-out bowler with three wickets for 18 runs.
In another match on Saturday, WHS Old Boys also posted a big win after beating Trustco United by 122 runs.
Old Boys amassed 203 for five wickets before dismissing the whole United side for a mere 81 runs.
Gerhard Erasmus was Old Boys’ top batter with 76 runs off 47 balls (5×4, 4×6), while JP Kotze added 45 off 25 balls.
In reply, United’s batters struggled from the start and regularly lost wickets. Only Michael Muller with a defiant 30 not out off 39 balls offered much resistance before the whole side was out with more than five overs remaining.
Zhivago Groenewald was Old Boys’ best bowler with four wickets for 13 runs, while Faf du Plessis took 3/20.
Wanderers now lead the log with eight points, followed by Old Boys and CCD on four each, while United must still open their account.
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