Round 6 of the BPL U17s consisted of CSD Kwena playing away to Mogobane Nkwe at the BCA Oval while CND Mokwepa hosted SG Tau in Francistown.
Both regional sides have been very consistent in their performances so far in the season and this has now made both teams firm favourites to be competing in the grand final for top honours come mid May.
Central Gaborone Tshukudu had a bye in Round 6 and looks to be the only other side that could see themselves as contenders for a final berth.
Mogobane skipper, Kutlo Ditsele, won the toss and seeing that Mogobane’s bowling has always been more reliable than their batting in the past five rounds, took a punt and put CSD Kwena into bat hoping that bowling Kwena out for a low score might give them a chance with the bat.
He also decided to open with spinners and this ploy looked to have worked as CSD’s openers, Hansa and Master, were kept quiet and could not get away to a blazing start.
As with his performances with the bat through the season, the gangly Master soon settled and started playing his wristy drives and flicks through the gaps and started to gain the ascendency.
The Mogobane bowlers could not keep a lid on the wides as well and that too added to the flurry of runs.
Master soon passed his half century without much hassle although he was dropped at short cover off a thunderous drive, a half chance at best. He soon sauntered his way to well-deserved hundred and as Mogobane’s bowlers had no answer to his innovative stroke play
and a naïve captain in Ditsele who could not plug the gaps, Master soon started to open up and survived another dropped chance at regulation mid-off as he now reached his third half century of the innings in short time.
At 271 -6 at the 36over and Master now on 157, 300 for CSD looked a certain bet. Ditsele then tossed the ball to the baby-faced Thatayaone Mothudi who had earlier claimed a wicket with his left armed medium pacers.
Bowling to a well set Master at this point could have seemed a daunting task but his first ball was on the money as Master was clean bowled, playing a tired shot at best. In came the next batsman, E.Pathan, and in came Mothudi with a similar delivery and out walked the batsman, clean bowled as Master was.
Thatayaone now found himself on a hat trick and as batsman number eight, Jada was at the crease, the next delivery was a wide down leg side. An anti-climax to the watching public but Mothudi soon
made up for this and, as with the two other deliveries, he landed the same and bowled his next victim to claim his third wicket of the over. His fourth and fifth deliveries were swing and misses by the Kwena number ten, just when you felt that Mothudi could have done all he
could in that over, his last delivery pitched in a similar spot and clean bowled victim number four, Rakul Murali CSD Kwena all out for 272 in 37 overs.
Mothudi had achieved something that many bowlers hoped to do in their lifetimes and he did it in a single match, a five wicket haul in a match, a four wicket haul in a single over and, lastly, clean bowling all your victims!
Mogobane started their innings at a snail’s pace and things never got going for them as the Kwena bowlers, although erratic in their line, proved too much to handle.
Wickets soon fell under the pressure and even with a short cameo of hitting by Tshepang Dexter with two West Indian calypso cricket like pull shots for four off Kwena bowler Tonhoro, after his dismissal, the Mogobane innings fizzled out as they were soon bowled out for 99 Kwena skipper, Junaid Hafesji, the pick of the bowlers with 3-15.
Master once again adorned the man of the match medal for the second match running.
