Hilton College are Tuskers 100-Baller champs
Ahead of their meeting on the Hart-Davis Oval on Saturday, Hilton College and Michaelhouse met on the Pietermaritzburg Oval in the final of the Tuskers 100-baller. When last they met in one of the shorter formats of the game, Hilton won by 19 runs in the Clifton T20 Tournament. Victory went their way again on Thursday.
Michaelhouse had performed well at the Independent Schools Cricket Festival, thanks to their improved batting form, so it was little surprise that when ‘House skipper Ethan Muir won the toss he elected to bat first. The Balgowan boys made a good start.
Muir and Victor North cruised to 23 from only 15 balls, with the captain getting after the Hilton bowlers, before North was caught by Ben Erasmus off Luke Campbell for six.
Muir and Ben Heuer advanced the total to 39, but Muir was then caught by Luke Wilson off Sechaba Gude for an aggressive 25 from 14 balls, which had included five fours.
Heuer and Nicholas Baker added 28 for the third wicket, but the scoring slowed, with their runs coming from 36 deliveries. Baker was run out for 13 and Graydon Leslie and Radhesh Jhilmeet were then kept in check, scoring only nine runs between them from 24 balls.
Off the second last ball of the innings, Heuer was run out for the innings’ top score of 41. He had smashed two sixes and struck a four while facing 37 deliveries.
Leg-spinner David Hill undermined Michaelhouse’s pursuit of runs, picking up 1/10 from his 20 balls, while Benoit Rey did a fine job, too, conceding only 13 runs from 20 balls.
Ben Erasmus gave Hilton a decent start to their reply, but, after making 10 from 11 balls, he was bowled by Luke Mitchell, with the total on 12. James Ogilby, who has been on a good run of form, managed only nine on this occasion before he was LBW to Jean-Luc Rey, which reduced Hilton to 33/2 from 39 deliveries.
Six runs later, Alex Pitman was on his way for 17, caught and bowled by Cameron Jones. Hilton was on 40/3, with 52 balls remaining. The contest was finely poised.
Fortunately for the black and white, they found in Robert Burman, batting at five, the man for the moment. Together with Jayden Roux, he guided Hilton to a seven-wicket win, with four balls to spare.
Burman struck an unbeaten 36 from 28 balls, with three fours and a six, and broke open a nail-biting contest by striking Rendani Nonge for a six, 11 deliveries from the end of their 100 balls. That big blow released the pressure that had been growing.
Roux finished with 19 not out from 24, and did a good job of rotating the strike. His partnership with Burman produced 58 runs from 48 balls.
Luke Mitchell was the pick of the Michaelhouse bowlers, capturing 1/9 from 20 deliveries, while Jean-Luc Rey was very nearly as economical, claiming 1//11 from his 20.
SCORES
Michaelhouse 97/5 (Ben Heuer 41, Ethan Muir 25, David Hill 1/10, Sechaba Gude 15); Hilton College 98/3 (Robert Burman 36*, Jayden Roux 19*, Luke Mitchell 1/9, Jean-Luc Rey 1/11). Hilton College won by seven wickets.
