PLAYERS’ form continues to haunt the McCarthy Toyota uThungulu cricket side, with them going down by three wickets to Topham on Sunday in a Premier League 50 over game at Addison Park.
The home side won the toss and elected to bat first, putting on 173 for nine after the middle order failed yet again.
Opener Stephan Joubert made a slow 56 off 104 balls, but lower order batsmen Neil Jordan boosted the run rate at the end, smashing 20 off 23 balls.
Wicketkeeper Simon Savides also added a useful 25 off 45 balls.
Topham bowler Zane Patel caused most of the damage with 3/29 in 10 overs. George Bronkhorst assisted on the other end with figures of 3/42 in 10 overs.
One always knew that 173 was never enough, leaving the visitors with an easy task of scoring 3.46 runs per over for victory, which they reached in the 47.3rd over with the loss of seven wickets.
Singatha Gcilitshana made 45 runs off 56 balls thanks to poor fielding, as he was dropped twice in the beginning of the innings to prove that catches win matches.
Luke Schlemmer scored 39 not out off 44 balls and closed the game out to get his team across the line.
uThungulu all-rounder Jordan ended with bowling figures of 4/27 in his 10 overs.
This result again raised the question of players being retained despite the loss of form.
Perhaps a batting order shake-up could also aid the cause.
Concern was also raised about incorrect decisions by the captain at critical stages of the game, resulting in some of the recent losses, while players expressed the opinion that the current policy of Otto Rode as player/coach is not working. The feeling is that a qualified and dedicated coach would serve the team better.
Another concern among some of the players was the lack of commitment displayed by some team-members. Practices are not well attended and before the Topham match. for example, a proper warm-up session was skipped.
uThungulu will have a break this weekend as some of the players will be competing in the SA Rural Country Districts Week in Kimberley from tomorrow (Friday).
The one positive is that uThungulu have avoided the promotion/relegation zone.
Their next Premier League assignment is against Chatsworth Sporting at Kingsmead Oval on Sunday 23 February.
