With the winners of all six first division districts confirmed, Worcester Cricket Club had to face Darling on Saturday (4 March) at home before travelling to Vredendal on Sunday (5 March) to face Vineyards CC from Vredendal.
On Saturday Worcester lost the toss and was sent in to bat first.
With overnight rain and more being forecast over the weekend, conditions were tough for batting in this must-win game.
Unfortunately Worcester CC were in trouble early on as three wickets fell with score now on only 7 runs for the loss of 3 wickets.
However, a good partnership between Haydar Khan and Aubrey Erasmus started a fight back for the team.
The middle and lower order put on small partnerships together with Khan as Worcester CC posted a score of 138/9 after 50 overs with Khan ending on 53.
Darling CC needed 139 to win started off strong. They had soon scored 75 for the loss of two wickets.
The bowlers of Worcester CC fought back and eventually bowled Darling CC out for 109.
The pick of the bowlers being Erasmus as he took six wickets in the innings.
Worcester CC won the game by 29 runs.
On Sunday Worcester CC made the long trip to Vredendal to play against Vineyards CC.
The game was reduced to 43 overs a side due to heavy rains delaying the start of the match.
Worcester CC were again sent in to bat first and due to the tough conditions struggled to put runs on the board.
A mere score of 109 was all that they could get on the day and now had to do our best to defend it.
Morne Scholtz was the pick of our batsmen after scoring 34.
The opposition batters started off gingerly as Worcester took a couple of early wickets.
A good partnership from Vineyards’ side steadied the innings as they took the score to 77 for the loss of three wickets.
Wickets then fell in quick succession as the fight back was again looking possible.
However, this time Worcester CC fell short as the team from Vredendal just scraped over the line with two wickets to spare.
This result was very disappointing as Worcester CC lost their first game of the season by two wickets.
The best bowler for Saturday’s match was Erasmus (six wickets for 22 runs) and the best batsman Khan (53).
Khan was also announced as the best bowler for Sunday’s match (2 wickets for 14 runs) and Morne Scholtz (34) the best batsman.
They are now waiting to see what lies ahead with the other end-of-season results, to determine their promotion in the next season.
