MARK WARD
Primrose’s hopes of surviving their first season back in the Western Province Cricket Association (WPCA) Premier League enjoyed mixed fortunes at the weekend but they remain trapped in the burrows of the relegation zone.
After suffering a defeat against Rylands on Saturday February 17, Primrose bravely bounced back to beat the University of the Western Cape the follow day, Sunday February 18.
While the win over UWC is an excellent result, they remain stuck in 11th spot on the league table on 23 points. This is only one point more than Rylands who occupy the bottom spot.
It is a precarious position for coach Qaasim Adams and his side and indeed not a pretty sight for a team filled with so much talent, including Juan James who recently captained the national under-19 team at the World Cup in South Africa.
On Saturday Primrose went down by six wickets against Rylands also at the Rosmead Avenue sports ground and then 24 hours later they played like a champion side after they were sent into bat, to set the students a target of 296/7.
Openers Qaasim Salie (85, 11×4, 1×6) and Aadam Tomlinson (40) laid the foundation with a partnership of 91. Abdul-Qadeer Salie (54) and Abdallah Bayoumy (46) also produced fine performances.
The homeside’s bowlers Daiyaan Davids 3/41 and David Schierhout 1/27 in nine overs kept the pressure on the student’s batters with some excellent performances.
Milnerton, who also finds themselves in the relegation mix on 24 points from 18 games, suffered a loss in going down by 23 runs to Kraaifontein.
In a rather uncanny twist, the top three teams including log leaders Western Province Cricket Club (62 points from 18 games), Rondebosch (61 from 18 games) and Cape Town (55 points from 18 games) all suffered defeats.
This has allowed Claremont, who beat Western Province by 17 runs, to narrow the gap to only 10 points and now stand on 52 points from 18 games.
Western Province ended on 297/7 after Claremont elected to bat and scored 313/6 with Matthew de Villiers scoring 103 off only 80 balls for the homeside.
Harlan Greig also contributed a sparkling 57 from just 36 deliveries.
Results:
Bellville beat UWC by 11 runs
Green Point beat Cape Town by 65 runs
Claremont beat WP Cricket Club by 17 runs
Durbanville beat Rondebosch by 6 wickets
Kraaifontein beat Milnerton by 23 runs
