Clifton upends DHS in Schools SA20
The Dolphins region Schools SA20 brought together two of the most in-form teams in KZN rather too early in the competition, with Durban High School (DHS), the winners of 10 matches in succession, hosting Clifton College, the winners of seven of their last eight, doing battle on the Theobald Oval on Thursday. It turned out to be a fascinating battle that ebbed and flowed.
Clifton won the toss and elected to bat, but way too early in their innings they were trying to work the bowling around, rather than playing straight, and it cost them.
Left-arm spinner, Dhilan Naraidu, who took the new ball, bowled superbly for the Horseflies, and he struck in the first over when he bowled Hayden Drieselmann. He was far from done. In fact, he was only getting started. The pitch was slow and the batsmen tried to play too square of the wicket off Naraidu, who did a good job of attacking the stumps and that was reflected in the manner of the dismissals he achieved.
He went on to trap Byron Ward in front and bowled Tim Saulez and Shiraz Perumal to reduce Clifton to 34/4. Opener Muhammad Malek was on his way 10 runs later, out for 15, after being caught off the bowling of Akhtar Basra.
The visitors were in serious trouble, but their middle to lower order has delivered time and again during this season and, on this occasion, it was Zach Williamson and Lawson Dinsdale who rescued their innings.
Playing calmly, they advanced the total by 50 runs before Williamson was the sixth wicket to fall. Trying to execute an extravagant scoop, he was bowled by Bhavesh Naicker for 22 from 26 balls, which, under the circumstances, was a hugely valuable contribution.
Two runs later, with the total on 96, Dinsdale followed him to the pavilion, run out by a mile after he attempted a second run, which was never on. He had weighed in with 18 from 22.
Caleb Naicker was, then, the victim of a direct hit as Clifton chased runs in an attempt to overcome their stuttering start.
After 20 overs, they had scratched and scrambled their way to just 112/9. DHS, it seemed, was on course for a routine victory.
Naraidu’s excellent four overs brought him 4/10, while Bhavesh Naicker returned figures of 1/14 from three and Akhtar Basra picked up 1/6 from two.
As well as they did in the field, though, DHS gave up too many extras. There were 28 in total – four byes, five leg byes, two no balls, and seven wides – which was the highest contributor to Clifton’s total.
School‘s run chase started poorly when they lost Lazlo Jooste in the first over, LBW to Tim Saulez. There was further early success for Clifton, with Regan Radley bowling Ethan Cooper for two, to peg DHS back to 10/2.
Cooper’s departure, however, brought together the dangerous pair of Ismaeel Omar and Josh van Biljon and they combined effectively to put their team in the ascendancy. They enjoyed a partnership of 72 before Omar was trapped in front by the leg-spin of Shiraz Perumal for 40. He had spent 52 balls out in the middle and struck three of them for four.
Four balls later, the cat was thrown among the pigeons when Van Biljon kept attacking and was dismissed, hit wicket. He had made 30 from 39, with a six and a four.
What should have been a clear and comfortable path to victory suddenly appeared murky. Perumal was making the DHS batsmen uncomfortable. They couldn’t get him away, right when they needed to up the run-scoring rate. Then, the return of Tim Saulez saw the Clifton attack clamp down further on the DHS run-scoring, and wickets fell, too.
Perumal was outstanding. He had been introduced into the attack late, the sixth bowler used, but he turned the contest on its head, snaring 4/19 while stopping DHS’s momentum in its tracks.
Still only in grade 10, following that four-for, Perumal has taken a Clifton record 59 wickets this year, beating the record of 58 previously shared by former SA u19 captain Matthew Montgomery (2017) and Josh Brown (2018).
Saulez was special, too, knocking over 2/11 in four overs. His ability to bowl deliveries of a yorker length at the death made him tough to contend with.
Good bowling was backed up by good fielding, and the composed manner in which Clifton defended a low total played a huge role in their success.
“I think we timed the use of our two KZN bowlers, Tim Saulez and Shiraz Perumal, well,” Clifton’s Director of Cricket and 1st XI coach, Brandon Scullard, told SuperSport Schools Plus.
“We said to our senior players and our provincial players that they need to step up and they need to close the game out. They showed why they are u17 (Saulez) and u16 (Perumal) provincial bowlers because they bowled in the last four overs and they brought it home for us really well.”
Following the dismissal of Omar, it was astonishing how the DHS innings lost steam. It was one of those twists that makes cricket such a fascinating game. In the end, DHS reached 101/7. Only 18 runs were scored by batsmen other than Omar and Van Biljon.
Reflecting further on the game, Scullard added: “We kept it simple enough that the scoreboard pressure started to tell. When the rate got to eight, in schoolboy cricket they’re going to play a few more shots than they really should. Maybe if they had put bat on ball and run well, they could have got a bit closer.”
The Horseflies will be disappointed with how their 10-game winning streak came to an end. The game was theirs for the taking, but a disciplined performance in the field won Clifton the match.
They surrendered only 13 extras – no byes, one leg bye, zero no balls, and 10 wides – and that made all the difference at the end.
Summarised scorecard
Clifton College 112/9 (Extras 28, Zach Williamson 22, Lawson Dinsdale 18, Dhilan Naraidu 4/10, Bhavesh Naicker 1/14); Durban High School 101/7 (Ismaeel Omar 40, Josh van Biljon 30, Shiraz Perumal 4/19, Tim Saulez 2/11, Regan Radley 1/19).
Clifton College won by 11 runs.
