Whitehead and Piedt bag six in Badgers defeat

CRICKET NEWS - Knysna Cavaliers-affiliated Sean Whitehead and Plett Pioneers' Marcello Piedt both claimed six wickets in the Garden Route Badgers' recent loss against the Eastern Storm in the CSA Division Two 4-Day competition.

When not on duty with the Badgers, Whitehead plays his club cricket for the Knysna Cavaliers in the SWD Premier League while Piedt plays his club cricket for the Plettenberg Bay Pioneers in the same league.

Cavaliers player Keenan Vieira was also included in the match squad as a travelling reserve.

The match, which was the Garden Route Badgers' opening fixture in the competition, was played at Willowmoore Park in Benoni, Pretoria, and was consistently plagued by bad light conditions that at times affected the length of play permissible on a day.

After Badgers captain Onke Nyaku won the toss and sent Easterns in to bat first, the men from Gauteng managed to post a competitive total of 291 in their first innings. Whitehead was the pick of the Badgers bowlers, claiming four wickets for 29 runs while Piedt followed in close pursuit with three for 69 runs.

The Badgers battled to get going in their first innings though, and only courtesy of a century from Matthew Christensen found their way to 220 all-out, giving Easterns a 71-run lead going into their second innings.

The Badgers put on a much-improved bowling performance in the second innings and bowled Easterns out for only 159.

Piedt again took three wickets, this time for 57 runs while Whitehead claimed two for 33 runs as the Badgers were set a target of 231 for the win. But, a poor batting performance followed as the Badgers were skittled over for only 157 to hand Easterns a 73-run victory to kick off their campaign. Piedt scored well for the Badgers with bat in hand, top-scoring with 33 runs.

The players have now been released to their respective clubs to enjoy a bit of a breather before returning to Badgers action in their next CSA Division Two 4-Day competition clash against Limpopo Impalas in Oudtshoorn on 17 November.

Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images