Recap

Match Stats:
JCC – 96/10 in 23.5 overs
Soweto Pioneers – 98/4 in 16.5 overs
Soweto Pioneers won by 6 wickets

Toss: Soweto

A score of 96 all out in the 24th over is about all that needs to be said in summary of the JCC Premier League team’s first home game at Hope Village.

Another epic Joburg thunderstorm had disturbed the covers to leave one end soggy and the outfield badly in need of a few days of undisturbed sunshine to dry out. This resulted in the game reduced to 33 overs a side and play commencing at 1pm.

Having lost the toss, JCC’s batsmen appeared to fall to the curse of Hope Village visitors who, on seeing the comparatively small field, felt compelled to launch everything over the boundary. As it turned out, only three JCC shots went for maximum – all scored by lower order batsmen. One of these batsmen, Tanaka Chivanga also held the dubious honour of being the team’s highest scorer with 23 runs off 25 balls.

JCC’s pitifully low score was aided by injudicious shot-making that resulted in six wickets falling by way of catches in the out field.

Opening the bowling with the experienced Alpesh Patel — who claimed three wickets for 31 runs in his six overs — proved a wily gambit by JCC captain Zi Desai. But with less than 100 on the board, the team needed far more than canny captaincy to pull a win out of the bag.

At the end of the day, the prospect of watching the first Premier League match played in the inner city — against Soweto Pioneers — proved more a damp squib than a moment to savour.