Assupol TuksCricket got their campaign to try and win the Varsity Cricket Twenty20 tournament for a third successive back on track yesterday with victories over Ikeys and Kovsies in Potchefstroom.
With these victories the team moved up to the third place on the log. The current two top teams are Northwest Pukke and Maties with 17 points after four matches. Assupol TuksCricket is third on 13 points followed by Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University on seven points.

Assupol TuksCricket did not have the best of starts. On the first day of the tournament their game against Northwest Pukke got rained out and then they lost against the University of the Western Cape. 
Tony de Zorzi (captain) predicted beforehand that the tournament is going to be won by the team that can keep their cool under pressure and would seem as if it is true.

 “T20 cricket is certainly unpredictable. Any team can be victorious at any given moment. At some stage in a T20 game there will be balls flying all over the place. That is when it becomes important to remain calm. As a captain I won’t immediately change our game plan if things seem to be going south but I will also not be foolhardy. There are games where you need to be able to adapt to what is happening on the field, if you are not able to do so you will lose,” said De Zorzi.

In their first game yesterday against Ikeys Assupol batted first and scored 216/6. It was the first time in this tournament that a team managed to score more than 200 runs. De Zorzi played a captain’s innings of 62 runs from 43 balls. Thomas Kaber was the other batsman who was not scared to go for boundaries. He scored 78 runs from 50 balls. 

Kaber then went on to take 2/19 in four overs to help restrict the Ikeys in their innings to 114/7. Needless to say Kaber was awarded the batsman, bowler and man of the match awards.

In their second game shortly afterwards the Assupol TuksCricket bowlers did a brilliant job of restricting Kovsies to 98/5 in their innings. Kaber was again the chief destroyer taking 3/12. The performance again earned him the bowler of the match award. 

De Zorzi continued to lead from the front in the Assupol TuksCricket innings scoring 20 runs from 11 balls. Ivan Kriek top scored for the team hitting 40 runs from 36 balls.

A proud Kruger van Wyk (head coach) said afterwards: “We are fighting back like in the old days and I am loving it.”

Assupol TuksCricket today again have another double header playing against Maties and the University of Johannesburg.