Van den Heever slams brutal unbeaten century

DIVAN VAN DEN HEEVER produced one of the most destructive tons seen in local league cricket as Clubhouse Optimists kept right on track for the Barclays Premier title. The South-African all-rounder put himself in prime position for an island spot with an unbeaten 114 off just 66 balls.

'Yeah, I enjoyed that, it felt pretty good,' was his understated self-assessment between innings.

The roar of Afrikaans as he turned the ball into the leg-side ring and scampered the single that brought up his hundred had given away just how much he enjoyed it.

The statistics are impressive. After a circumspect opening, 10 runs in his opening 14 balls faced, van den Heever found his range.

His 50 was brought up off his 37th ball and included a huge six off Ted Enevoldsen that cleared the chimney stack next to the groundsman's hut.

'I must admit that when he hit it we all just stood there waiting for the sound of breaking glass,' said Pessimists' Dave Piesing.

Luckily, the ball ricocheted off a concrete plinth at the base of one of the greenhouses and rolled gently back towards the chimney.

Later he dispatched Piesing's leg-spin into the trees at the de Beauvoir end, barely 10ft from the top.

His second 50 came off just 18 balls. Altogether, he hit eight fours and four sixes and dotted only 14 deliveries. One run of 30 consecutive scoring shots added 81 runs to his total.

He gave one sharp chance early on, but keeper Pete Matthews had a lot of ground to make up going for what would have been a very special stumping and the opportunity was gone.

It had looked a reasonable first few overs for Pessimists. A slightly wayward opening over from Pierre Moody contained three wides but he added the valuable wicket of Andy Biggins, caught at gully when a straight one jumped and caught the shoulder of the bat as the Optimists pushed forward.

After eight overs, Optimists were 34 for 2, Ian Damarell having had his stumps scattered when playing an unusually inelegant swipe at Moody.

Then the fireworks began. Elliott Green and later Nick Chambers were no more than supporting roles in van den Heever's main feature.

In the last 12 overs of the innings, Optimists added 120 runs.

Ted Enevoldsen took some fearful punishment off one over - 21 runs ruining his figures.

Even so, Optimists' 155 for 3 was not too out of sight - until van den Heever, refreshed by a jug of iced water, opened the bowling and removed both openers in his first three overs.

There was a scare at the end of his fifth over.

He pulled up in his delivery stride with a shout of pain and when he slowly rose to his feet and left the pitch it transpired that he had dislocated his left shoulder temporarily.

'It pops out every now and then; it's back in now and it's not too bad but my arm's a bit tingly,' he said.

Only Piesing stuck around in the middle for any length of time, working the ball for ones and twos.

However, there was never any serious challenge to Optimists' target.