On Tuesday the 8th of January, Groot Drak played host to Oxford University’s first XI at Pickstone Oval. Rightly anticipating a tough contest, the home team selected a particularly formidable side to take on the young and fit students.

Honouring tradition, the visitors were sent in to bat and Oxford immediately made the significant age gap count by putting on a first wicket partnership of 83 runs, followed by a century from one of their openers.

If not for a middle-order collapse, Oxford would have comfortably posted a score of 270+ in their 40 overs, but the Groot Drak bowling-and-fielding effort limited the visitors to 227/5.

Particularly impressive spells from Andri le Roux (32/2 from 8), Martin van der Merwe (33/1 from 8) and Danie van der Nest (40/2 from 7) were instrumental in the resultant target.

After a quick lunch break, Groot Drak headed out to attempt the run chase. A shaky start saw the local boys 63/3 before the innings was stabilized by Martin van der Merwe (41 from 55) and Craig McNaught (48 from 61).  A few quick wickets saw Groot Drak in trouble – but, batting all the way to number 11, there was still a chance of victory for the home side.

Great starts from Jannes Mouton (18 from 13), Kudu Kotze (23 from 23) and Corrie Brand (21* from 29) took the game down to the wire… needing one run for victory from the last ball of the match, some efficient fielding from Oxford saw a run out and the game being tied!

The shared result was soon forgotten over a customary beer on the pitch and a brief history of the club shared with the visitors, courtesy of Richard von Hoesslin.

A brief fines meeting warmed both teams up for what would be a fantastic dinner and bonding experience between, what we hope will be, two teams that begin a tradition of regular fixtures in the future.

It was a wonderful opportunity to host such a fantastic bunch of cricketers, who, along with Groot Drak, enjoyed each aspect of the day, both on and off the pitch!

Match report by Craig McNaught

The annual pilgrimage up to Graaff-Reinet before each season was made for a fourth consecutive year as Groot Drak selected their strongest side for the Montego T20 Tournament. After a long bus journey to the Karoo, the team prepared to play their first game under lights against the Cape Town Invitational XI. Leading from the front, tour-captain MC Uys opened the batting and scored a valuable 50, with Groot Drak posting a competitive total, which they defended to post their first win for the tournament.

The next morning saw Groot Drak play an absolute humdinger against Graaff-Reinet, in which the defending champions needed 10 runs off the last two balls with one wicket in hand. Those last two balls went for 6 and 4, causing heartbreak for Groot Drak.

The afternoon game was played against Paarl Swingers, who started off with a bang, but were bundled out for 122 runs. With some great batting from Herman Fourie and Morne Maritz, Groot Drak coasted to victory in the 14th over.

On the last day, needing two wins from the next two games to reach the final, Groot Drak were determined and focused.

The morning game was played against Uitenhage who fielded first, affording Groot Drak a total of 136. The bowlers stepped up and narrowly allowed Groot Drak to defend the total, meaning the next game was in essence a semi-final featuring Despatch and Groot Drak.

Every bowler for Groot Drak fired, limiting Despatch to a very achievable 94 runs. Without too much trouble, Groot Drak blasted the runs in little more than 9 overs, with Morne Maritz putting in a well-deserved man-of-the-match performance, sending Groot Drak to their first ever final!

The final was played under lights against a fresh and fired-up Graaff-Reinet team, who posted an intimidating 164 after their 20 overs.  The score proved too much, as Groot Drak had a complete collapse, managing just over half the runs before being bowled out.

Heads high, Groot Drak collected the prize for second-place and left Graaff-Reinet the next morning with a renewed sense of pride, purpose and excitement for the season ahead!

The opening game of the 2017 season was our regular fixture against Villiersdorp. 
Always a competitive side and with last seasons stats against them being one win and one loss the Groot Drakies were psyched to get out of the blocks. 

Villiersdorp’s skipper Hennie De Wet was familiar with our tradition of fielding first and had no complaints upon inspecting Vitalis’s magnificently prepared pitch. We opened with the blistering pace of Van Zyl and Joubert Kotze and some attacking field placing. Fielding and bowling was impressively tight, Van Zyl getting 3/28 in his full spell of 7 overs and Craig McNaught having to be taken off early with his embarrassingly good form getting 3 wickets for 2 runs in just 3 overs! 

With wickets falling regularly we used the opportunity to experiment with some other bowlers and both Marco and newbie Andri bowling beautifully for 1/3 after 1 over and 2/2 after 2 respectively. 

Villiersdorp where back in the cub house for 59 runs. Groot Drak passed their score losing just 4 wickets and the afternoon was concluded fairly early, so the skippers convened and it was decided to play a T/10 quick format. Each captain selected a player in turn, this was a huge success, great fun and an excellent indictment of the spirit of friendly cricket playing two mixed teams selected from the two clubs. 

Fines, needless to say, were entertaining and well spirited as both teams, spectators and family all sat in a large circle reminiscing over the day and putting a few cold ones past parched lips! 

MATCH REPORT FROM JONO BOULTON

Saturday the 21st of January 2017 was Groot Drak’s first match of the New Year. 

Having had a great first-half of the season, this fixture against Villiersdorp was one of only 2 matches we had lost last year (narrowly on a rain-affected home wicket), so the lads headed over the pass eagerly to set things right. 

We lost the toss and headed out to field in the heat, our bowling attack was probably the strongest in a very, vey long time with a blistering pace onslaught of Morne Maritz, Marnitz Phister, Joubert Kotze and Craig McNaught. 

The opposition pushed and prodded and were 68 for 4 at drinks. Our usual tactic of then bringing on the spin from both ends was just too much of a carrot to dangle and the batsmen went out in a procession of exceptional catching and fielding. 

Our total to chase was 143 and an outstanding opening partnership by MC Uys and Gary “Gazza” Seaman, put us in the driving seat, the highlights being MC’s 44 off 42 balls and Gert Uys with 32 off 35 balls. 

The runs were scored in just 23 overs allowing the sick, aged and infirm to enjoy a cold beer in the shade. 

Victory and fines were indeed sweet, the game was played in a magnificent spirit and we look forward to a similar performance this weekend. 

MATCH REPORT FROM JONO BOULTON