Formosa Cricket Club put an end to a dominant series of performances by Daredevils’ all-rounder Jeff Black to win yesterday’s final of Greater Taichung’s triangular cricket tournament.
In Saturday’s 18-over per side group matches Black scored twin centuries, adding to the hundred he made in the final of April’s Pink Day tournament.
Formosa won the toss and batted yesterday at the Jinlong ground making 49 in the first five overs. The break came for the Daredevils when Black took the wicket of opener Rigert van Eeden. Craig Mitchell (38) kept the run rate up, but it dropped once he went. Charles Engelbrecht (28) added a few bonus runs at the end of their innings to propel Formosa to 144-7 from their 20 overs.
The Daredevils started positively with Chad Sinovich hitting a few lusty blows before his dismissal by Ric McGrail. Top order wickets then fell regularly and sharp Formosa fielding helped restrict the Daredevils to 122-9.
Van Eeden (5-13) won the man of the match trophy for a fine all-round performance.
“We were outplayed on the Saturday, but did really well to come back on the Sunday. The final was a great game and the disciplined, team effort is what kept Daredevils’ key players quiet. This was a well organized tournament, and it was, well, an interesting ground, to play on,” Formosa captain Heinrich Nothnagel said.
Daredevils captain Duane Christie was magnanimous in defeat.
“We performed well on Saturday, but if we wish to fill our trophy cabinets this season, we’ll have to do better on Sundays too,” Christie said.
Tournament organizer Andrew Carrick was happy with the weekend’s proceedings.
“It was nice to play on this new ground, although it’s a tad small for cricket. It would be great if we could find a suitable ground in Taichung for future tournaments,” Carrick said.
Black’s batting dominated Saturday’s games. Against the Scunners, the Daredevils (254-5) had an up and down start, but, despite some lively bounce, Black impressed with 120 off 54 balls.
The Scunners’ Garth Wahl hit 61 but their total of 129-8 was well short.
The Scunners were revitalized when taking on Formosa for the first time in more than a year.
Mitchell made 43 before Nothnagel (61) played an innings full of strongly hit boundaries as Formosa scored 185-6.
Scunner’s Simon Mitchell hit 87 not out batting at No. 4 and was ably assisted by Riaan Meyer (23), but they could only manage 168 before their overs ran out.
When the Daredevils took on Formosa, the openers failed, but Black reigned supreme again, blasting 119 not out off 45 balls.
Although the Daredevils total of 166-4 seemed within range, John Nettleton (5-12) cut a swathe through the Formosa batting line up to help dismiss them for only 80 and earn the Daredevils a place in the final.
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