Chasing 280 in 40 overs turned out not to be a problem for GG CC. They chased it down in 36.2 overs.
Peter Sutherland took over the captaincy from Ernst Levy (not because he was doing a bad job at the helm) for this match…it didn’t started too well for him as Jura’s opening pair of Baverstock and Brooks added 118 for the first wicket. Hard work for all the bowlers, including the skipper who turned his arm over for 3 overs going at close to 11 an over. When the wickets did came it was because of a batsman slogging it out. Ozzy Hobbs was particularly pugnacious, smoking 38 off 19 balls…Gopalan with a cameo of 21* off 9 balls saw Jura ending on 280/6 in their 40 overs. Only Ahsan Hafeez was able to pick up more than one wicket, in addition to a runout. Captain Brooks top scored with a run a ball 89, his opening partner Baverstock with 55 off 68.
The chase for GG CC started off decently, not at the required rate of 7 but just decent…Bram Human smacked 45 (33), but when he fell the score was only on 62 in the 11th over & he was the second man down for GG. The specialist batsman in Riaan de Villiers couldn’t handle the pressure of the rising RRR. He stayed for only 7 balls making 5 runs. Captain Sutherland came in at number 5 with 214 runs required in 169 balls. He added 87 off 66 balls with Robin Oxley for the 4th wicket. When Oxley fell for 34 in the 23rd over, 127 was needed in 103 balls. When the next wicket fell, that of Sutherland, the scores were level at the start of the 37th over.
Sutherland made 141 off 85 balls with 12 fours and 4 sixes. His partnership with Hafeez yielded 126 runs off 80 balls…Sutherland made 90 of these off 48 balls, all the while Hafeez was hitting under run a ball (27 off 32).
This win takes GG CC to 4th place