Claremont captain Josh Breed propelled his side to their first win in the Western Province Premier League with an excellent all-round performance.
Breed excelled with both bat and ball for the defending champions to steer his side to a comfortable six-wicket win over homeside Bellville on Saturday.
Having lost their opening two games, Breed led from the front after sending Bellville to bat first, taking 2/25 in 10 overs and with the side struggling on 31/3, settled in well with Kai Greig (8*) to steer his side over the winning line with an unbeaten 56 runs.
Breed won the toss and sent the home side into bat first to bowl them out for 137 in 50 overs.
Breed went on to combine well with seamers Kyle Pluke who took 3/33 and Gavin Dickenson 2/21 in seven overs.
It was a bleak weekend for Bellville who went down in both their 50 overs and Ama20 fixtures.
They suffered a 54-run loss on Sunday against a rampant Kraaifontein in their T20-clash.
But despite their setback on Sunday coach Mark Giger said they kept their hopes alive in the T20-series.
While Claremont (14 points) and Durbanville (12 points) are in fierce battle in Group A, Bellville on 12 points and Rondebosch on 13 are still in the contention to reach the semi-finals. Bellville must however beat Green Point on Saturday to keep their hopes alive.
Kraaifontein batted first and chalked-up 122/6 in 20 overs and then went on to bowl Bellville for 68 in 13.5 overs. Kraaifontein’s Elliot Hamilton top scored with 49 while his teammate Craig Ephraim took 4/28
Milnerton, meanwhile continues to impress after registering their third win of the season when they beat Primrose by two wickets after sending in the visitors to bat first.
Milnerton’s bowlers gave the Primrose batters a hard time throughout their innings with seamer Malcolm Cloete taking 4/14 in 10 overs, helping restrict Primrose to 190 in 46.2 overs. The visitors struggled on 103/9 before Maahir Eksteen (54) and Sergio Pringle (40*) put up a 10th wicket partnership of 84.
Rondebosch clung to the top of the league standings following their 83-run win over Kraaifontein at the Terry Eksteen Oval with Lennert Van Wyk scoring an unbeaten 121 (10×4; 7×6) to help his reach 239/7 in 47 overs.
But it was the homeside’s bowlers led by Morné Pentz who took a remarkable 7/29 in 10 overs which did the trick for Rondebosch to oust the visitors for 156 in 38.2 overs.
Rylands, meanwhile, suffered their third successive defeat when they went down by 84 runs against a rampant Western Province Cricket Club side at the Rylands Oval. After scoring 275/7 in their 50 overs, the visitors restricted the homeside to 191/ in 43.3 over with spinner Justin Behrens taking 5/46.
