Big hitting Saulez powers Clifton to easy Schools SA20 win
While rain caused many midweek Schools SA20 matches across KZN to be called off, and camps caused the postponement of others, some schools managed to get their games completed, including Clifton College, who made short work of Umlazi Comtech High at Kingsmead.
Clifton, after impressing at the St John’s Rams T20 in Harare over the weekend, where they made the semi-finals, blasted their way past Umlazi Comtech High, winning by a huge 176 runs.
After winning the toss, Clifton didn’t hesitate to bat. They lost Byron Ward early, but Hayden Drieselman and Riven Moodley, then, laid into the Comtech bowlers, sharing a rollicking 134-run partnership for the second wicket.
Drieselman was the first to fall, bowled by Asande Mthembu for 68. His knock had taken 45 balls and included 10 fours and a six. As happens quite often after a big partnership, his partner, Riven Moodley, followed soon after, LBW to Mthembu for 59 from 45, which featured seven fours and two sixes.
He and Drieselman exited only one run apart, but that brought Tim Saulez to the wicket and he provided the innings with an extraordinarily astonishing boost, smashing eight sixes in an unbeaten 14-ball stay, which brought him 49 runs.
At the end of their 20 overs, Clifton had tallied 211/4.
While all around him his teammates were punished, opening bowler Asande Mthembu bowled well to return the excellent figures of 4/21 from his four overs.
Unfortunately for Umlazi Comtech High, their innings was a procession of players entering the field of play and soon leaving it.
Their innings lasted 17.2 overs and it crawled along until it ended in the 18th over, with Umlazi Comtech all out for only 35. Their highest contribution came from 15 extras.
They lost their first two wickets before a run had been scored and were reduced to 5/4 shortly after that. There was no coming back from that disastrous start to their reply.
Opening bowler Blake Johnson led the way for Clifton, capturing 4/9 in four, while Regan Radley was miserly, snapping up 3/5 in four.
While Mthembu enjoyed some success with the ball for Umlazi Comtech, their batsmen had nothing to offer in the face of the Clifton attack.
Ashton College, meanwhile, kept Crawford College La Lucia in check with a tight bowling performance to ease their way to an 89-run win.
SCORES
Clifton College 211/4 (Drieselman 68, Riven Moodley 58, Tim Saulez 49*, Asanda Mtehmbu 4/21); Umlazi Comtech High 35/10 (Blake Johnson 4/9, Regan Radley 3/5)
Clifton won by 176 runs
Ashton College 151/10 (D. Pather 33, A Bodasinj 21, M. Hariken 2/27, Shrayen Naidoo 2/31, A. Singh 2/35); Crawford College La Lucia 62/7 (S. Sallabajee 17, M. Kitch 2/5, D. Johnston 2/11)
Ashton College won by 89 runs
