Chikwava shines in St John’s win, Butler powers St David’s to victory
Tapiwa Chikwava and Bryn Gilmour starred with the bat and ball in St John’s College‘s emphatic 117-run Duckworth-Lewis-Stern Method win over Parktown Boys’ High in their 50-over contest on the Mitchell Oval at St John’s on Saturday.
The Blues won the toss, chose to bat first and were bowled out for 201 in 48.2 overs. The visitors were wobbling on 56/6 after 24 overs when the match was interrupted by lightning.
Parktown’s innings was then reduced to 43 overs with a revised target of 199. They never challenged that total and were restricted to 81/8.
Chikwava played a gem of an innings to rescue the home side’s innings from imploding. The number seven batsman scored an invaluable 85 from 70 balls to catapult St John’s to a winning total.
When he walked out to bat, the Blues were on 68/5 after 18.4 overs. Batting positively, the all-rounder played his shots while Joshua Hall anchored the innings at the other end.
Hall’s was an obdurate resistance. He accumulated 26 runs from 107 deliveries while the pair added 116 for the sixth wicket. The next best partnership for St John’s was a 41-run opening stand between Nkosana Sibiya (28) and Luke Fry (17).
When Parktown batted, Bryn Gilmour was the pick of the St John’s bowlers, knocking over 4/14 in nine economical overs. The spinner enjoyed good support from Ethan Robinson, who took a brace of wickets, and Chikwava and Herman Basson, who chipped in with a wicket each.
Abdullah Wadee was Parktown’s top scorer with a patient 22 runs from 56 balls. Josh van Rensburg (15*) and Siya Dube (11) were the only other two Parktown batsmen to reach double figures.
St David’s vs Helpmekaar
Christopher Emslie and Kyle Butler combined their skills with ball and bat to help St David’s Marist Inanda record a four-wicket win over Helpmekaar Kollege at Helpmekaar on Saturday.
Roberto Mariano, the St David’s captain, called correctly at the toss and opted to bowl first. His bowlers made him look good by bowling out Helpmekaar for 134 in 29.4 overs. Butler then played an inspired knock with the bat to shepherd St David’s to 137/6 in just 22.3 overs.
Emslie, who shared the new ball with Butler, claimed 3/39. Butler did the hard work, accounting for three of Helpmekaar’s top four batsmen, to claim 3/31 from six overs. Hayden Campbell rounded off the wicket-takers with a tidy 2/14 in six overs.
The St David’s reply didn’t go smoothly at first. They meandered their way to 67/6 before Butler arrived at the crease in the 10th over.
The visitors, who had recovered from losing their captain in the first over by mounting a 50-run second-wicket partnership, had suffered a collapse that left them staring at defeat in the face after Heinrich Minnaar and Frederick Zeelie took five wickets for 16 runs in 5.1 overs to give the hosts the upper hand.
Butler, though, fought fire with fire and blitzed an unbeaten 53 runs from 40 balls to steer St David’s home. He also shared an unbroken 70-run seventh-wicket partnership with Maru Challies, who was the foil to Butler’s aggressive stroke play. He finished with an unbeaten 15 runs from 43 balls.
Summarised Scorecards
St John’s College 201/10 (Tapiwa Chikwava 85, Nkosana Sibiya 28; Keagan Johnson 3/33, Ashton Govender 2/16). Parktown Boys’ High 81/8 (Abdullah Wadee 22, Josh van Rensburg 15*; Bryn Gilmour 4/14, Ethan Robinson 2/6). St John’s won by 117 runs (DLS Method).
Helpmekaar Kollege 134/10 (Zuan Joubert 17, Sebastian Kloek 17; Christopher Emslie 4/39, Kyle Butler 3/31). St David’s Marist Inanda 137/6 (Kyle Butler 53*, Sohail Seonath 34; Heinrich Minnaar 4/50, Frederick Zeelie 2/39). St David’s won by four wickets.
