Cricket Cavalier takes 8 for 4 in 4

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KNYSNA CRICKET NEWS - An incredible bowling effort from Knysna Cavaliers' Quinton Visagie helped his side to an emphatic 125-run victory over Pirates United in the season opener on Sunday 6 October, with the Cavaliers seamer claiming eight wickets.

The rivalry between these two Knysna cricket clubs was as always as tangible as the grass on which they would play when the two second teams arrived at Loerie Park on the morning of game day.

The teams would be locking horns in each side's first match of the new SWD Reserve League season, which acts as the third division of SWD's cricket hierarchy below the Promotion and Premier Leagues.

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The clash got under way when the two captains and umpires carried out their first coin-toss of the season, with Cavaliers winning and electing to bat first on a pitch that had been hastily prepared following the rugby sevens tournament the week before. Cavaliers' innings got off to a disastrous start when they lost one of their openers with only six runs on the board.

They would then make it to 38 before losing their second wicket, but it started to go downhill quickly from there as poor shot choices from the Cavaliers batsmen saw them stumble their way to trouble, soon finding themselves on 76-8. However, the Cavaliers' tail refused to go down easy as a 77-run partnership between number 9 Hennie Jonk and number 10 Divan Luiters would salvage the innings, with Jonk eventually falling for 39 with the team at 153-9.

Luiters would carry on piling on the runs as he made his way to 51 when he was dismissed by Lucien Grootboom having steered his side to 200 all-out to set Pirates a manageable target of 201. The Pirates batsmen would fare slightly better than Cavaliers' top and middle orders, as they found themselves at 58-2, but then man on a mission Visagie was brought on to bowl for Cavaliers, subsequently turning the game on its head.

He would claim his first wicket in his first over, but little did he realise what magic lay in wait in his second over. Visagie kicked the over off with a wicket, and three balls later claimed his second of the over. Visagie would go on to claim two more in two balls to complete a brilliant hat-trick and five-wicket haul that left Pirates reeling at 63-7.

He wasn't done just yet however, as Visagie would manage to claim the remaining three wickets as well, to round out an incredible bowling performance that saw him claim eight wickets for four runs in only 3.5 overs, as Pirates collapsed from 58-2 to 75 all-out to hand Cavaliers an emphatic 125-run victory to kick off their season.

Cameron Rigby lands on his front foot while opening the bowling for Cavaliers.