Waterkloof scrape by Garsfontein’s Ysbere

Waterkloof managed to bag another victory on home soil as they overcame Garsfontein in their round-robin clash of the Titans A-league.

The visitors won the toss and elected to bat first. Looking to put Waterkloof under some early pressure, the Ysbere found themselves in a bit of trouble after losing three big wickets early on.

Wian Ruthven (3/26) was the main threat as he claimed all three of the opening wickets in a wonderful spell of consistent line and length bowling.

Still, under pressure, the Garsie batters kept chipping away slowly as they looked to recover from the early loss, but it seemed as if the momentum did not want to shift as they continued to lose wickets in clusters.

Xander Venter finally found some rhythm in his innings with the middle-order batter occupying the crease and rotating strike. He soon started hitting his straps and capitalized on the new-found momentum to accelerate, eventually losing his wicket on 78 from only 71 deliveries.

Tristan Luus was brought back into the attack to close out the Garsie innings as the fiery quick ended up with figures of 2/21, restricting the visitors to a below-par 160 all out.

Waterkloof’s innings got off to a very good start with Wian Ruthven continuing his good outing on the day as the opening batsman scored a quick 40 from 31 balls.

However, Stefan van Staden was not planning to let the Klofie batters off the hook that easily, showing his skills with the new ball, claiming remarkable figures of 4/29 in his allotted ten overs.

Van Staden’s inspiring spell also meant that the Klofies found themselves in trouble in their chase of only 160.

A quick-fire 31 off 19 balls from Tristan Luus, relieved the pressure somewhat but returned as he had to depart.

With their score on 130/7 the home side needed calm heads to get the 31 still required for victory. GJ de Swardt and Jaydon Blom did just that, helping their side across the line with only three wickets left in the bank.

Summarised Scorecard:

Garsfontein 160/10 from 41 overs (Xander Venter 78, Gustav Beer 23; Wian Ruthven 3/26, Tristan Luus 2/21, GJ de Swart 2/31); Waterkloof 162/7 from 32.1 overs (Wian Ruthven 40, Tristan Luus 31; Stefan van Staden 4/29, Sebastian Bouwer 2/32). Waterkloof won by three wickets.