Sunday 11th of June wasn't as cold as the previous weekend for Last Man Standing cricket players in Bloemfontein. This was primarily due to the red-hot action on the Free State University pitches.
We were privileged to Live-Stream two of the nine matches, this time from field number one, the one closest to the Varsity Library. The first match we were fortunate to capture was at 09:00, Division 3 Toxic Eagles vs the Pork Swords. The next exciting game we could stream was only at 14:00, a Division 1 match, CPI Masters vs CPI Hot Shots. The game between the two gave us the perfect opportunity to freely capture video footage that we intend to use for sponsor adverts, including some beautiful drone footage. This is what happened.
1. Toxic Eagles vs Pork Swords
The Score, The Teams and What Happened
The Score
Toxic Eagles won by 24 Runs
What Happened
The first to open the match was the Toxic Eagles. They scored 166/4 in their allotted 20 overs. This was a magnificent display of teamwork, but nobody was able to obtain a 50 retirement score. The closest was Benny Lubbe whose frustration plagued him until deep in the second innings when he lost his wicket, nearly sitting on his achievement with 49 from 42 balls.
Toxic Eagles 166/4 (20.0)
1st On Div 3 Ranking
The Toxic Eagle's innings were exciting to watch with multiple players looking as though they were well on their way to achieving the 50 milestone. It was, however, Tommy Kock whose batting run rate was the quickest before losing his wicket for 34/19, not a fifty but well enough to earn himself the Player Of The Match award.
The second innings delivered beautiful instances of individual brilliance by Pork Sword's team. Although Stefan Hugo and Charl vd Watt were some of the players who displayed exciting spectator cricket, it was Peter van Zyl who scored the highest with 42/33 before losing his wicket due to an LBW call by Umpire Joppie.
Pork Swords 142/5 (20.0)
5th On Div 3 Ranking
From the live-streamers team, we want to thank both teams for a fantastic and entertaining match as well as the match's title sponsor.
2. CPI Masters vs CPI Hot Shots
The Score, The Teams and What Happened
The Score
CPI Masters won by 5 Wickets
What Happened
The first innings were opened by the CPI Hit Shots. They seemed to have struggled to score boundaries. Knowing what their team was capable of, this was an irregular occurrence, which lead us to conclude that the reason might be due to the following three theories.
CPI Hot Shots 117/8 (18.3)
4th On Div 1 Ranking
One, CPI Masters had quite a few new youngsters in the team who fielded extremely enthusiastically. They made a significant difference in the CPI Masters' structure and approach to their style of play. JP Hunt did ultimately read their opposition well enough to take a wicket in his first as well as his second bowling over, sending a message to the youngsters who think they can win a game by swinging at every ball. It is exciting to watch, but in the end, you need batsmen at the stumps to score runs, no matter how well you can hit the ball.
Two, the Free State Champs starts on Friday and JP Hunt saw the match as the perfect opportunity to test some game strategies designed for different game situations. They are 4th on the log overall, leading CPI Masters who are currently keeping the log number sixth place warm before moving up.
Three, since next weekend, is Free State Champs when cricket will become a lot more serious, JP wanted his team to remember how it feels to have fun on the pitch. Not at all insinuating they aren't the rest of the time, but rather to let loose and allow them to do what they love without expectations.
In the second Innings, the youngsters of the CPI Masters looked like bats out of hell, letting loose a stream of boundaries. This is what LMS was designed for, but along with spectacular swinging at every ball comes the increased risk of losing a wicket. If there was such a thing as a batting risk ratio, The CPI Hot Shots would score a 2 or 3 while CPI Masters would score 8. The middle obviously depends on the team's skill in scoring high scores like AB De Villiers, and it is merely a risk in which side of the balancing point you're leaning towards.
All teams know towards which side of the scale they should lean which changes upon the situation in the match.
Spectacular boundaries were coming through thick and fast from the CPI Masters, but as mentioned, so did the wickets fall during this period. It was, however, the partnership between Dolf De Beer 43/25 (Not Out) and Player of the Match winner, Jacques Jacobs 38/21 (Not Out) that brought stability and won the match.
CPI Masters 120/3 (12.3)
6th On Div 1 Ranking
Although Jacobs' batting was a lot slower than the youngsters, he retained his wicket and allowed him to earn enough points for the Player of the Match award, above Rowan Bezuidenhout with spectacular bowling that tumbled 5 wickets.
The live stream was made possible by CPI sponsorship.
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