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Brothertons retain Salem Family six-a-side cricket tournament title

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The Brothertons showed they were not yet ready to relinquish their position as the Salem Family six-a-side cricket champions with a commanding performance at the village field about 20km outside of Makhanda on Saturday.

The biennial tournament, sponsored by Kelston Motor Group, had a shortened format as a light drizzle settled in during the early afternoon, but it was an indication of the hardiness of country cricketers and their passion for the game that the final was played despite the difficult conditions.

Winners for the first time in 2021, on this occasion the Brothertons came up against the Biggs family and kept their heads under pressure to win with five balls remaining.

Batting first the Biggses struggled to get going against an excellent effort in the field by the Brothertons, whose ability to bowl accurately to the field they set was a major factor in them retaining the title.

Giving the Biggs batsmen little chance to hit out to the shorter boundaries square of the wicket, they restricted them to 34 in the first four overs.

But finally Daniel gave the Biggses some breathing space by helping to take 19 runs off the final over, which included two wides, to give them a respectable total of 53.

Nic and Buster opened for the Brothertons and again proved to be invaluable in providing an aggressive start, breaking the back of their task by hammering 30 runs off the first two overs.

They lost Nic, who was the batsman of the day, at the end of the fourth over, but by that stage they were closing in on a convincing victory and needed just three runs off the final over, which they achieved off the first ball.

In the earlier games, the Brothertons powered through their pool and showed their ability by outplaying the Amms, who had won their first two matches, in the section-deciding encounter.

The Amms had two exceptionally dangerous batsmen in Simon and Mark, but they could not find an answer to the accurate Brotherton bowling in pursuit of a daunting target of 77.

The Biggses were also on song in their pool, winning all their matches to comfortably qualify for the final.

Brothertons Family
The team was, from left, back, Nic, Buster, Jaden; front, Trevor, Peter, Jason. Edgar filled in during the final when Trevor was injured. Photo: Donne Pittaway

The awards were:

  • Champions: Brothertons; runners-up: Biggses
  • Ian Long trophy for best bowler: Nick Biggs
  • Batting award: Nic Brotherton
  • Fielding award: Nick Wilmot
  • Gary Emslie award (for commitment and support of the event): Trevor Brotherton
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Port Elizabethan

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