Mouton shines in Kingswood’s victory over St Alban’s, Kearsney wins
Patrick Mouton struck a brilliant half-century to lead Kingswood College to a 21-run win over St Alban’s College in their Independent Schools Cricket Festival (ISCF) 30-overs-a-side game at St Alban’s on Saturday afternoon.
Kingswood captain Alistair Knott called correctly at the toss and elected to bat first. They had peaks and valleys on their charge to 190 all out in 29.2 overs. In reply, St Alban’s mustered 169 all out from 28.1 overs.
Mouton hit four fours and three sixes on his way to a match-winning 67 off 41 deliveries. The middle-order batsmen arrived at the crease following the fall of the first wicket in what would become a three-wicket collapse.
Kingswood’s innings began with Daniel Jakins and Franco Klopper putting on 16 runs in 24 balls for the first wicket. Then, Jakins and Knott added only three runs for the second wicket. The scoring rate increased when Jakins and Ross Thompson made 33 off 28 deliveries for the third wicket.
When Mouton arrived at the crease, Kingswood was on 59/3. Just 11 balls later, they were in deep trouble on 55/6. With Mouton leading the way, though, they worked their way out of it. He joined hands with Josh Loon and resurrected his team’s innings with a 64-ball 94-run sixth-wicket partnership, which powered the Eastern Cape side to a challenging total.
Mduduzi Mahlangu was the pick of the bowlers for St Alban’s, returning an excellent four wickets for 20 runs from his six overs. His effort to tie down Kingswood was ably supported by Liam Basch and Luke Ward, who bagged a brace of wickets each.
Unlike Kingswood, St Alban’s strung together double-digit partnerships at the top of their innings. However, the boys from Makhanda kept them in check by striking just when it appeared those partnerships might become costly. Nonetheless, the home side made solid progress, with the first three wickets producing a combined 58 runs from 62 balls.
Things looked better for St Alban’s when Jesse Eckhard joined Basch in the middle. They stitched together a 56-run partnership in 49 balls during which Basch scored 40 of his 71 runs.
St Alban’s needed a couple more telling contributions to see them through to victory, but they never materialised. Basch and Eckhard’s stand proved to be the highlight of the hosts’ innings, which petered out after it was broken.
Franco Klopper led the Kingswood attack with two wickets for 13 runs from 3.1 overs. Josh Loon and Sinawo Bakula also removed two batsmen each to help their team to victory.
A decision by St John’s College (Harare) captain Connor Lovatt to send Kearsney College in to bat didn’t work out. The KZN side posted a useful 236 all out and then bowled out St John’s for only 130 to score a big 106-run win.
Cole Young was the mainstay of the Kearsney innings, smashing six fours and three sixes in his innings of 62 from only 52 balls. Up front, the openers, Rivaan Moodley and Jason De Gryse, shared a 64-run stand in just over 10 overs. Moodley made 36 from 48 and De Gryse, Kearsney’s captain, weighed in with a run-a-ball 35, which featured three sixes and three fours.
Hayden Saunders returned 2/24 for St John’s, while James Rawlings did a tidy job, snaring 2/29 from 10.
The Rams lost Brendan Kalunga early in their reply, but then made decent progress, with their skipper, Connor Lovatt, batting with typically brutal and efficient aggression. He bashed 50 from only 23 balls, sending four deliveries for six and another five for four, while Luca Spagnuolo weighed in with 20.
St John’s appeared to be in reasonable shape on 117/5 in the 25th over, but their challenge fell apart as leg-spinner Rivaan Moodley tore through their batting lineup. He snagged 5/25 in 8.2 overs as the Zimbabwean side slipped to 130 all out, losing their last five wickets for only 13 runs.
Scorecards
Kingswood College 190/10 (Patrick Mouton 67, Josh Loon 38, M Mahlangu 4/20, L Ward 2/30). St Alban’s College 169/10 (Liam Basch 71, K Block 21, Franco Klopper 2/13, Josh Loon 2/22). Kingswood College won by 21 runs.
Kearsney College 236/10 (Cole Young 62, Rivaan Moodley 36, Jason De Gryse 35, Daniel Miskey 24, Hayden Saunders 2/24, James Rawlings 2/29); St John’s College, Harare 130/10 (Connor Lovatt 50, Luca Spagnuolo 20, Rivaan Moodley 5/25, Litha Gonya 2/34). Kearsney College won by 106 runs.
