Affies too good for old rival Waterkloof, Menlopark edge out Cornwall Hill College
The Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool of Pretoria proved to be too good on home soil for their long-time rivals, Hoërskool Waterkloof when they met in their round-robin clash of the Titans A-league on Saturday.
Waterkloof won the toss and decided to bat first. Looking to put a competitive score on the board, Waterkloof found themselves in some early trouble, losing a wicket of just the second ball of the game.
Divan Behrens (24, 48b) joined Wian Ruthen (39, 34b) as the pair grafted hard to recover from the early loss.
Ruthen and Behrens were able to put together a solid partnership of 64 runs before Ruthen fell victim to the impressive Petrus Rautenbach (3/40) with his score on 39 of only 34 deliveries.
Ruthen departed not long after and the responsibility fell on the shoulders of Beukes van der Berg to get his team to a competitive total.
Van der Berg kept his composure and with wickets falling all around him he managed to notch up a well-played half-century scoring 56 of 76 balls before he was sent back to the pavilion by Andru van Zyl (3/41). With the Affie attack, led by Divan de Villiers (3/22), applying continuous pressure, Waterkloof lost wickets on a regular basis to end up with a subpar total of 159/10.
The Affie batters too found it difficult to score with Waterkloof fighting back strongly with the ball and soon Tristan Luus (2/22) got the breakthrough the Klofies were after claiming two quick wickets. However, Jorich van Schalkwyk showed his class, knuckling down to bring up a classy half-century, making 57 of 95 balls.
Van Schalkwyk was well supported by his middle-order companion Ruben Groenewald, who too brought up his half-century, scoring at less than a run a ball for his 53 (51b) before both Affie batters were sent back to the changing room.
Luus found support with the ball from Marcus Bakker who also claimed two scalps for 34 runs, but it was deemed too late as the home side got over the line comfortably claiming a significant victory, and coming out on top with five wickets.
Menlopark got the better of Cornwall Hill College in their round-robin clash.
Menlo won the toss and elected to wield the willow first. After getting off to a rocky start, opening batsman Dian van Zyl knuckled down to accumulate and knock the ball around for a well-played 39 of 74 deliveries. The Menlo batters continued to get good starts but good not capitalize as they lost wickets just as it seemed like a partnership started to brew.
With their team somewhat in trouble the two lower-order batters in the forms of Pierre de Villiers (36, 39b) and Ben Strydom (33,30b) strode to the crease. The pair’s positive batting allowed them to start scoring more freely towards the back end of the innings as they guided Menlo to a reasonable total of 227 all out.
Cornwall Hill got off to a reasonably good start in their search for the 228 runs required for victory. R. Herselman grafted hard for his 24 of 49 balls to lay a solid platform for the batters to come. Although, after his departure things went pear-shaped for the men from Cornwall as they lost wickets in clusters.
Steve Stolk proved to be the dangerman with the ball in hand, tearing through the Cornwall top order to claim remarkable figures of 4/19.
T. de Klerk (40, 65b) and J. Jansen (36, 37b) batted nicely to get their team back on track but it was deemed not to be enough as Cornwall’s remaining batters were bundled out for a meagre 151, handing Menlopark a convincing win of 76 runs.
Summarised scorecards:
Waterkloof 159/10 (Beukes van der Berg 56, Wian Ruthven 39, Divan Behrens 24; Divan de Villiers 3/22, Petrus Rautenbach 3/40, Andru van Zyl 3/41); Affies 163/5 (Jorich van Schalkwyk 57, Ruben Groenewald 53; Tristan Luus 2/22, Marcus Bakker 2/34). Affies won by five wickets.
Menlopark 227/10 (Dian van Zyl 39, Pierre de Villiers 36, Ben Strydom 33, GN van Zyl 26, Matt van der Westhuizen 26; J. Jansen 3/26, R. Herselman 3/34); Cornwall Hill College 151/10 (T. de Klerk 40, J. Jansen 36, R. Herselman 24; Steve Stolk 4/19, GN van Zyl 2/36). Menlopark won by 76 runs.
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