So close, yet so far. Well played to the boys, but we take a lot of confidence from this 50 over league season. The feeling in the camp is that all the blocks are falling into place. With this said, we intend to dominate the 20 over league and challenge local rivals in the 30 over friendly league.
The league started with a bit of confusion as our opponents, Franschoek, requested that the match be postponed and moved due to an unprepared pitch. Our second team faced them at home on 13 October. This was a bad day out for the boys failing to capitalize on the home ground advantage.
On the 19th, our first team started off their campaign against Raithby at Raithby Cricket field. This was a strange match, as we were cruising, chasing a bonus-point win, only to collapse and lose the match by 4 runs. On the same day, our second team faced the same fate against Klapmuts. Another collapse and another close loss (by 23 runs).
Rugby World Cup final day, our first team faced Klapmuts that beat our second team a week before. Eager to make amends, we dominated the match and beating Klapmuts by 96 runs.
The following week, both teams pick up vital wins as we flex our muscles. Excelsior II beats Saron at Saron and Excelsior I beats Mbekweni at home in a closely contested match.
The first team gets a bye the following week and Excelsior II falls short against a good batting performance by Wolseley.
The back in action first team then travels to Saron to face a determined side that lost against Excelsior II. This was another close encounter with a 1 wicket win for Excelsior I. Excelsior II also travels to Wemmershoek and were 20 runs short of winning.
By 30 November, things looked good for Excelsior I to attempt a league win. Unfortunately, on the day we fell short against Wolseley winning with 4 wickets.
With the Christmas break and Excelsior I sitting in the fourth spot, we knew we had to dig deep in order to clinch the top spot in the league. This was not impossible.
2020 started off with a bang as the Excelsior I team demolish Wemmershoek with an astounding 332 run win!
The following week, Excelsior I beat Excelsior II by 144 runs.
The final weekend in the league. Excelsior I (in third spot) facing second-place Drakenstein away and Excelsior II facing fourth spot Raithby at home. The equation was that if Wolseley loses or beats Klapmuts without a bonus point, then Excelsior I would need a bonus-point win to win the league. The plan was set and Excelsior I convincingly beat Drakenstein to obtain the bonus point and Excelsior II stinted the Raithby contention at home. Unfortunately, Wolseley went on to beat Klapmuts by a bonus point, thus leaving Excelsior I with 1 point shy of winning the league.
It has been an interesting 50 over league, but we’ve learned so much. We understand and are weary of our shortcomings and as said before, the blocks are falling into place. We will be one of the top contenders in the 20 over league. At the time of writing this, Excelsior I already beaten Klapmuts. We will prevail!