Affies unbeaten as Pretoria schools dominate at Peninsula Festival
St Charles College vs Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Affies)
After pulling off a stunning back-from-the-dead win over Paul Roos Gimnasium on Saturday, Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Affies) wrapped up their Peninsula Cricket Festival campaign with a fifth win on the trot – the only team to achieve that outstanding feat.
Playing at Rondebosch Cricket Club, they won the toss and elected to bat against St Charles College in a T20, which was the format for the last day of matches.
With consistent contributions from their top order, Affies galloped to 183/5 from their 20 overs, led by opening batman, AJ Morkel, who smashed eight fours and three sixes in a 49-ball stay that generated 64 runs.
His opening partner, JP Botha, chipped in with a quickfire 20 from 14, while Christiaan Linde, batting at three, hammered five fours in his 32 from 20.
Vihan Pretorius struck three sixes and batted at two runs a ball for his 24, while Daniel Murray ended on 17 not out.
The Saints‘ bowlers came in for some stick, but Keegan Vermaak did well under pressure, claiming 2/27 from his four overs.
St Charles started their run chase well enough, with captain Thandolwethu Zama and Matthew Weightman making 28 for the first wicket in only 19 balls. Zama and Ryan Clarke, then, added 26 in 18 before Zama was bowled by Nico Loggenberg with the total on 54 in the seventh over. He’d hit four fours and a six in his 24 from 26 balls.
Clarke went on to contribute 16 from 16, but St Charles lost their way after Zama departed. No other batsmen came close to reaching double figures; seven from Lebo Mokoena was the best of the rest.
Loggenberg, who got rid of the dangerous Zama, was a big reason for that. He snared 4/7 in four overs, while JP Botha was almost as effective. His four overs cost 18 runs and brought him three wickets.
In the end, Saints lasted only 16.5 overs and were all out for 97, giving Affies a convincing 86-run victory.
Hoërskool Waterkloof vs Bishops Diocesan College
Hoërskool Waterkloof put a bow on an excellent Peninsula Festival for Pretoria schools by chasing down Bishops Diocesan College‘s big 170/7 to win by seven wickets with eight balls in hand.
AJ de Villiers stole the show, clubbing five sixes and nine fours in an unbeaten 101 from only 60 balls. He was well supported by his opening partner, Rico van der Walt, who contributed 32 off 25 as they put up 66 runs for the first wicket. While Johan Feuth scored only 15, he and De Villiers added 50 for the third wicket.
Earlier, Bishops, who won the toss, totalled 170/7, which was built upon an opening stand of 75 from Litha Mbiko and Ibraheem Taliep.
Mbiko was caught off Johan Liebenberg for 22 from 21 balls. Then, crucially, Liebenberg trapped Thaafier Japtha in front off the very next ball. One run later, Waco Bassick also traipsed back to the pavilion, caught off of Christiaan Smit for a duck.
Bishops fell to 114/4 with the dismissal of Taliep, who cranked out nine fours and two sixes in a 40-ball knock that yielded 63 runs.
Harry Morgan smashed two fours and a six before he was run out for 20 from only 18 deliveries. Alex Vintcent, though, kept up the good work, with his 31 from 21 including three maximums.
Liebenberg claimed 2/27 from his four overs. The difference in the game was, however, AJ de Villiers’ hard-hitting century.
Pretoria Boys High vs Paul Roos Gimnasium
Pretoria Boys High completed a very successful festival with a fourth win from five matches, beating Paul Roos Gimnasium (PRG) by five wickets with seven balls to spare in Stellenbosch.
PRG headed to the crease first after winning the toss and made a fair start with Aiden Titus and Tian van Niekerk tallying 25 for the first wicket. The home side was, however, never quite able to get on top of the Boys High bowling.
Titus went on to the highest score of the innings, 28, from 29 balls, while Marcus Conradie finished with 21 not out as Paul Roos put up 115/6.
Ruan Coetzee nabbed 2/18 from four overs, and Jayden Knott-Craig kept the batsmen quiet with his 1/14 from four.
PBHS openers, Ethan Nel and Tim Gordon, then set their side up for victory with a 43-run partnership for the first wicket, which ended when Marcus Conradie caught Gordon for 29 from 20 off Dion Slabber. Gordon’s knock included two sixes and three fours. Nel was eventually the fourth wicket to fall for 26 from 33 balls.
Paul Roos kept it close, but they hadn’t put enough runs on the board, and Pretoria Boys High claimed the win with a ball left in the 19th over.
James Holm led the PRG attack, claiming 2/23 from four overs.
SACS vs Hilton College
In the match of the day, Hilton College bounced back from a disappointing defeat against Wynberg to hold off SACS and claim a nail-biting one-run win after a rollercoaster ride of a contest on De Villiers Field.
SACS chose to bowl first, and that decision brought them early success, with Hilton losing two wickets within the first two overs. In the seventh over, they slipped to 31/3.
That, however, brought Ben and Luke Wilson together, and they went about repairing the damage, adding 40 runs in 36 balls before Luke was caught by Mickey Watson off Aqeel Waggie for 25 from 23 balls. That left Hilton on 71/4 in the thirteenth over.
Although he batted third in the order on this occasion, as he had done on Saturday, when he carried his bat while opening, Ben Wilson finished the innings unbeaten. He top-scored with 41 from 44 balls, which included three fours.
Cameron Hargroves and James Peattie, with 16 each, helped him lift Hilton to 128/7 after their 20 overs.
Aqeel Waggie was the pick of the SACS bowlers, claiming 2/15 in four neat overs, while Benji Tilbury went for 13 in one over, but also removed two batsmen. Ronan Meintjies, who took the new ball, returned 1/15 from four.
Litha Kraai, then, got the home side off to a flyer, blasting four sixes and three fours in a 20-ball knock that brought him 40 runs. He was out early in the fifth over, but by then SACS had already reached 49 runs.
Obakeng Motsepa made it a double strike by dismissing the dangerous Aqeel Waggie a run later, but Benji Tilbury and Ulrich Roth then joined forces to add 46 from 44 deliveries, taking the total to 96 before Tilbury was caught by Benoit Rey off Luke Wilson for 10.
SACS was in a strong position, needing only 33 runs to win with 7.5 overs in hand, but Tilbury’s dismissal sparked a collapse, with three more wickets going down for the addition of just two more runs.
Suddenly, from 96/2 at the start of the thirteenth over, SACS was on 99/6 in the fourteenth, with Benoit Rey snagging two sticks and Luke Wilson executing a run out.
Crucially, the second of those four wickets to fall in quick succession was that of Ulrich Roth, who was out for 33 from 30 balls, having hit four fours and a six.
Raadhi Dollie and Abhay Kalan advanced the score by 12 runs from 14 balls, but the hosts had lost too many wickets and with that they lost momentum.
Opening bowler, Sechaba Gude, who had suffered under Litha Kraai’s early onslaught, came back to finish the game for Hilton, snatching the last two wickets, including one off the last ball, to save the contest for the KZN crew.
He took 3/44 from four, while Luke Wilson, with 2/7 in two, and Benoit Rey, with 2/8 in two, helped to turn the contest in their side’s favour. Obakeng Motsepa bagged 2/35 from four.
Rondebosch Boys’ High vs St Stithians College
Rondebosch Boys’ High was subjected to a stiff examination by St Stithians on ‘Bosch‘s Cricket A Field, but they held on for a hard-fought seven-run win, fielding superbly and picking up late wickets cheaply to slow the Saints‘ run pursuit.
A decision by St Stithians to bowl first paid off when Zaakir Hanslo dismissed the home team’s openers, Ethan De Heer Kloots and Eli Aufrichtig cheaply, but Tyler Heyns and Schalk Fourie handled the setback well, combining for 52 runs before Fourie was stumped off the bowling of Akhil Challa for 22 from 21 balls.
Tim Short took over from Fourie and he and Heyns kept the scoreboard ticking. They added 45 before Short become Challa’s second victim for 26 from 23 deliveries. Four runs later, Heyns fell to Hanslo for 56. It had taken him only 40 deliveries, two of which he deposited over the boundary, and four into it.
After their 20 overs, ‘Bosch totalled 145/7.
Zaakir Hanslo bowled superbly, capturing 3/20 from four overs, while Akhil Challa picked up 2/25 from his four.
Saints made a good start to their run chase, with Hamzah Shaikh and Matthew Katzenstein opening with a 56-run stand. It ended when Zion van Rensburg caught Katzentein off Arin Spiller for 26 from 20 balls, which included five fours.
Shaikh and Nicholas Bayly took the total to 88 before Bayly, in a crucial setback for Saints, was run out by Eli Aurfichtig for 25. He had launched three sixes in his 24-ball stay.
‘Bosch, then, made it a double whammy when Tim Short ran out Shaikh for the innings’ top score of 35 a ball later. He faced 34 deliveries and hit three fours and a six. Unbelievably, Matthew Anderson was out four runs later, also a victim of a run out, which left the Johannesburg side on 93/5.
Their innings had lost impetus, a result of good fielding and some poor running decisions. In the end, they finished with 138/8, done in not by the bowlers as much as the Rondebosch fielders.
Arin Spiller bagged 2/27 from four overs and Ethan De Heer Kloots 1/21 from four, while Eli Aufrichtig exerted considerable pressure with his 0/15 from four.
Wynberg Boys’ High vs Potchefstroom Gimnasium
Wynberg Boys’ High completed their Peninsula Festival assignments with a comfortable 54-run win over Potchefstroom Gimnasium on the Jacques Kallis Oval.
They put up 166/4 before restricting Gim to just 112/7 in reply.
Put in to bat first, Wynberg made a solid start, with Matthew Saunders and Qaeed Shaikh posting 57 for the first wicket.
Shaik exited for a quickfire 32 from 15 balls, which featured four sixes, and shortly after Saunders followed for 26 from 20. Potch Gim, though, soon made it three wickets in the space of eight runs when they got rid of Fawaaz Hendricks.
At 65/3, the contest was evenly poised. That’s when Hugo Norambuena and Michail Tarentaal seized control of it for Wynberg. They advanced the total by 69 runs before Norambuena’s counterattack was ended by Bernard Judels. He had scored 37 off 36 balls, with two sixes and one four.
Tarentaal went on to match Shaik by smashing three sixes and not one four in his unbeaten 40 from 36 deliveries. Joshua Prince, meanwhile, blasted a couple of maximums himself, in a rapid 21 not out from 10 balls to lift Wynberg to 166/4.
Jahndré Coetzee was the pick of the Gim bowlers, dismissing Saunders and Hendricks at a cost of only 16 runs from his four overs.
Potch Gimnasium made a bright start to their run chase, with Christivan Coetzer and Ulrich Botha making 41 for the first wicket, but once Coetzer fell for 14 the innings petered out, with Gim falling way behind the required run rate.
From 41 without loss, Gim stumbled to 59/4, and from there the die was cast. Botha, though, kept pressing and he was rewarded with 52 from 58 balls, with three fours and a six. He was the fifth player out with the total on 89.
Bennet Keet made 15 from 22, but it was Noah du Plooy, again, who made a major difference. He snapped up 3/21 from four and removed three Potch Gim dangermen – Lukas Kotze, Bernard Judels and Jahndré Coetzee, batsmen three to five – for a combined one run.
Joshua Prince knocked over 2/2 in two overs, while Nicholas Stafford returned 1/22 from four as Potch Gimnasium’s challenge slipped away and they finished on 112/7.
Summarised scorecards
Affies 183/5 (AJ Morkel 64, Christiaan Linde 32, Vihan Pretorius 24, JP Botha 20; Keegan Vermaak 2/27); St Charles College 97/10 (Thandolwethu Zama 34; Nico Loggenberg 4/7, JP Botha 3/18). Affies won by 86 runs.
Paul Roos Gimnasium 115/6 (Aiden Titus 28, Marcus Conradie 21; Ruan Coetzee 2/18); Pretoria Boys High 116/5 (Tim Gordon 29, Ethan Nel 26; James Holm 2/23). Pretoria Boys High won by five wickets.
Bishops Diocesan College 170/7 (Ibraheem Taliep 63, Alex Vintcent 31, Litha Mbiko 22, Harry Morgan 20; Johan Liebenberg 2/27); Hoërskool Waterkloof 175/3 (AJ de Villiers 101*, Rico van der Walt 32; Thaafier Japhta 2/28). Hoërskool Waterkloof won by seven wickets.
Hilton College 128/7 (Ben Wilson 41*, Luke Wilson 25; Benji Tilbury 2/13, Aqeel Waggie 2/15); SACS 127/10 (Litha Kraai 40, Ulrich Roth 33; Sechaba Gude 3/44, Luke Wilson 2/7, Benoit Rey 28, Obakeng Motsepa 2/35). Hilton College won by one run.
Rondebosch Boys’ High 145/7 (Tyler Heyns 56, Tim Short 26, Schalk Fourie 22; Zaakir Hanslo 3/20, Akhil Challa 2/25); St Stithians College 138/8 (Hamzah Shaikh 35, Matthew Katzenstein 26, Nicholas Bayly 25; Arin Spiller 2/27). Rondebosch Boys’ High won by seven runs.
Wynberg Boys’ High 166/4 (Michail Tarentaal 40* Hugp Norambuena 37, Qaeed Shaik 32, Matthew Saunders 26; Jahndré Coetzee 2/16); Potchefstroom Gimnasium 112/7 (Ulrich Botha 52; Noah du Plooy 3/21, Joshua Prince 2/2). Wynberg Boys’ High won by 54 runs.
