Basson’s all-round performance delivers victory for St John’s
Herman Basson produced an outstanding all-round performance to help power St John’s College to an emphatic 129-run win over Helpmekaar in their 50-over match on the Mitchell Oval at St John’s, on Saturday.
Nkosana Sibiya, the St John’s captain, won the toss and elected to bat first in the Blues‘ first home match of the year. His batsmen, led by Basson, tallied a healthy 295/9 in 49.5 overs. The Blues’ bowling attack then dismissed the visitors for 166 in 46.4 overs.
Basson struck eight fours and three sixes in a breezy 50-ball 75. He was set up well for success, arriving at the crease in the 14th over after a 76-run opening partnership between Sibiya (22) and Darshik Lutchman (46). However, he had barely settled into his innings before Lutchman was dismissed.
Basson consolidated and fired the Blues into a strong position with a 98-run third-wicket partnership with Joshua Hall, who weighed in with 44. That was the hosts’ highest stand and one of their three match-defining partnerships of over 50 runs. The other one was Hall and Connor van der Walt‘s 60-run fourth-wicket stand, with Van der Walt contributing 35.
Basson was also among the wickets as St John’s rolled through Helpmekaar’s batting lineup, claiming an impressive 2/12 in four overs.
Bryn Gilmour was the most successful of the home side’s bowlers, returning 3/42 from 10 overs, while Ethan Robinson did a tidy job, picking up 2/18 in 5.5 overs.
Xander Jackson put up a fight for Helpmekaar with an even-paced, unbeaten 59 from 92 balls. Unfortunately for him, he had little support from the rest of the batting order. Heinrich Minnaar, who contributed 25 runs from 44 deliveries, held up the St John’s bowlers for a while, but Stefan Trumpelmann, with 20, was the only other batsman to make it beyond the teens.
Northcliff vs Steyn City
Steyn City visited Northcliff High on Saturday and handed the hosts an eight-wicket thrashing on the Eksteen Oval.
The visitors, who won the toss and chose to field first, bowled out Northcliff for 236 runs in 41.2 overs. They, then, made light of the run chase, romping to 237/2 in 45.4 overs.
Jack Woolard was Northcliff’s shining light with a well-paced 63 from 60 balls and was well supported by Rouxwan Coetzer, who added 42 runs from 53 deliveries. The rest of the batsmen struggled to get into the game, however.
Austin van Jaarsveld and Qhama Kova led the Steyn City bowling attack, sharing six wickets between them. Van Jaarsveld finished with 3/46 from nine overs, while Kova took 3/38 in seven.
Steyn City was clinical with the bat in their run chase. The visitors made a strong statement of intent with a 73-run opening partnership between Murray Leith (53) and Brandan Lea (23) before Northcliff fought back by removing both openers within the space of 4.5 overs.
Their departures brought Joshua Michau (73*) and Kian Mcanda (56*) together, and they mounted an unbeaten 140-run third-wicket partnership that saw Steyn City to victory.
Summarised Scorecards
St John’s 295/9 (Herman Basson 75, Darshik Lutchman 46; Stefan Trumpelmann 3/37, Dominic Tait 2/32). Helpmekaar 166/10 (Xander Jackson 59*, Heinrich Minnaar 25; Bryn Gilmour 3/42, Herman Basson 2/12). St John’s won by 129 runs.
Northcliff 236/10 (Jack Woolard 63, Rouxwan Coetzer 42; Austin van Jaarsveld 3/46, Qhama Kova 3/38). Steyn City 237/2 (Joshua Michau 73*, Kian Mcanda 56*, Murray Leith 53; Regan van der Walt 1/32, Gareth Hunkin). Steyn City won by eight wickets.
