The former VKB Knights captain, Werner Coetzee, achieved a remarkable feat by bowling a five-wicket maiden over in a club match in the Netherlands.
Coetsee was playing for The Hague Cricket Club in a T20 league match against The HBS Cricket Club.
With one over to go HBS needed five runs for the win of the final over. They were well on their way to a victory standing on 113/5 and the two batsman at the crease standing on 27 and 20 runs respectively.
As Coetsee has done many times in the past at the Knights, when the pressure is on, he takes it upon himself to get the job done. And this is exactly what he did.
The spinner took a hat-trick, followed by dot ball and then a brace of wickets to win the match for The Hague and return figures of 20/6 in his 4 overs.
Speaking to Courant from the Netherlands, Coetsee said this feat will definitely go down as one of the highlights of his career. “It was something. I haven’t seen that before,” said Coetsee.
“The hat-trick was great, I haven’t had one for a very long time, but I still had bowled well because they were just one hit away from a tie. So I could only celebrate after the over was done.
“It was a really great feeling to experience something like that after all the years of playing, especially with it being something I’ve never done or seen before.”
Coetzee is known by the nickname “Bene” (legs) at the Knights, and when asked if his teammates in in Europe might be calling him “Werner the Turner” from now on, he said mats in the Netherlands don’t allow for much purchase. “Luckily not; the ball doesn’t spin that much on these mats,” he said while chuckling.
Just by his impressive domestic season in 2015/16 with both bat and ball, his Knights teammates will welcome his return from Europe.
Coetsee will, however, not skipper the side this upcoming season with the leadership role having been assigned to the hard-hitting batsman, Theunis de Bruyn, who has joined the side from the Titans. – MORGAN PIEK
