Fasken Time Cricket Day One: Rowles and Sobiech top the run charts
Jason Rowles, Johan Feuth, and Andrew Sobiech recorded centuries on the opening day of the Fasken Time Cricket Festival, at St David’s Marist Inanda, on Thursday.
Shiraz Perumal and Zizi Mkhize dominated with the ball and claimed the first five-wicket hauls of the competition.
Rowles (116*), Sobiech (109), and Feuth (100) were among the cohort of 12 players awarded purple caps as recognition for their outstanding craftsmanship on the field. The other recipients were: Goolam Ahmed, Jason Knoetze, Alec Loveland, Matthew Barbour, Ombesa Matsha, Luke Clark, Connor Simpson, Muhammed Malek, and Wander Roolvink.
Rowles put his experience on show to spare the hosts the blushes with a beautifully compiled unbeaten century that drew St David’s within touching distance of Waterkloof’s first innings total.
St David’s, who won the toss and elected to bowl first, had Waterkloof with their backs against the wall when Jared Stern ran through the Klofies‘ top order. The visitors, though, wrestled back control with an outstanding 98-run fifth-wicket partnership between Johan Feuth and AJ de Villiers, with Feuth carving an unbeaten 100 and De Villiers adding 81.
Rowles, who broke the big fifth-wicket partnership, anchored the St David’s innings with an unbeaten 116 and was well supported by Samrat Basu, who scored a valuable 64. At the close of play, the hosts trailed Waterkloof by only nine runs.
Andrew Sobiech constructed the third century of the day with a superb 109 against Jeppe High School for Boys. The opener held firm for the first 32 overs to lead St Andrew’s School’s reply to Jeppe’s first innings total of 188. While he survived the challenge of Shreshth Kumar’s bowling, he was unable to do the same against Zizi Mkhize.
Mkhize ran through the St Andrew’s batting order, snapping up 6/46. However, that wasn’t enough to prevent Saints from taking a handy 66-run lead into the second day after the Bloemfontein school tallied 254 all out.
Shiraz Perumal spun a web around Noordheuwel‘s batting lineup to prevent the Gauteng side from bettering Clifton’s first innings.
The Durban school batted first and found the conditions to be challenging. Mohammed Malek, though, grafted hard for an unbeaten 69 from 117 deliveries to see Clifton to 206 all out. That total also owed a lot to Eliah van Jaarsveld, who cracked an aggressive 35 off only 25 balls, which included five fours and two sixes. He added 49 for the ninth wicket with Malek, which propelled Clifton past 200.
After Noordheuwel made a strong start to their reply, with Wander Roolvink making 49 and Kian Liebenberg 40 in an opening stand of 72, Clifton needed something special to halt Nories‘ smooth progress.
Leg-spinner, Shiraz Perumal, put his hand up. He snared six wickets for 83 runs as Noordheuwel was dismissed for 202, leaving Clifton with a small four-run first innings’ lead. By stumps, Clifton had reached 34/1 in their second knock.
King Edward VII‘s (KES) Connor Kuijers and Steele Grooteman combined to take seven St Charles’ College wickets, which helped restrict the KZN side to a first innings score of 188. When it was their turn to bat, KES overhauled the Pietermaritzburg school’s middling score and put 225/8 on the board.
Batting again, St Charles made a poor start to their second innings, with Grooteman and Lebone Ramedupe picking up early wickets to leave the KZN side on 10/2 and 27 runs behind at the close of play.
Matthew Barbour was one of 11 players to score half-centuries on the first day of the festival, and the opener’s contribution, 88 from 139 balls, helped lift the Lions Invitational XI to a good-looking 266/8 against St Stithians College.
Undaunted, St Stithians confidently set about chasing down the Lions’ total and by stumps they were only 59 runs in arrears, with seven wickets in hand. Ombesa Matsha struck a 97-ball 80, while Tahseen Hanslo settled in and was unbeaten on 40 when Saints ended the day on 207/3.
After Hoërskool Nelspruit had posted 227/7, led by 71 from Joshua Knoetze and 41 not out from Janco Breyl, St John’s College replied with 232/5 to end day one with a five-run lead.
St John’s opener, Aiden Barberini performed his job well, putting together an unbeaten 79, and together with Darshik Lutchman, who made 69, shared an opening stand of 111 runs. Alec Loveland shone with the ball in Nelspruit’s innings, knocking over 4/66.
Scores
Waterkloof 289/9 (Johan Feuth 100*, AJ de Villiers 81; Jared Stern 4/37, Miles Pegg 3/56). St David’s 219/8 (Jason Rowles 116*, Samrat Basu 64; Christiaan Smit 3/33, Johan Liebenberg 2/46, Vorster de Villiers 2/10). Waterkloof leads St David’s by nine runs.
Clifton 206/10 (Muhammed Malek 69*, Eliah van Jaarsveld 35; Hanru Begeman 3/22, Dihan Grove 3/59, Hinrich Smith 2/23) Noordheuwel 202/10 (Wander Roolvink 49, Kian Liebenberg 40; Shiraz Perumal 6/83, Keegan Watson 2/10). Clifton 34/1 (Declan Shaw 16*, Muhammed Malek 12*; JD Bezuidenhout 1/8). Clifton leads Noordheuwel by 38 runs.
Jeppe 188/10 (Goolam Ahmed 92, Keegan Cockburn 30; Nikhil Sukraj 4/41, Bohlokwa Leketa 3/34). St Andrew’s School 254/10 (Andrew Sobiech 109, Reuben van Aarde 34*; Zizi Mkhize 6/46, Shreshth Kumar 3/90). St Andrew’s leads Jeppe by 66 runs.
St Charles 188/10 (Connor Simpson 51, Ryan Clarke 22; Connor Kuijers 4/56, Steele Grooteman 3/40, Luke Clark 2/25). KES 225/8 (Urav Mukhija 53, Luke Clark 44; Keegan Vermaak 3/28, Daksesh Rajah 1/47). St Charles 10/2 (Thandolwethu Zuma 5, Keegan Vermaak 4*; Lebone Ramedupe 1/0, Steele Grooteman 1/4). St Charles trails by 27 runs.
Lions Invitational XI 266/8 (Matthew Barbour 88, Sachin Sunkar 47, Zuan Joubert 44; Akhil Challa 3/40, Tajendra Naidu 2/36). St Stithians 207/3 (Ombesa Matsha 80, Tahseen Hanslo 40*, Nicholas Bayly 28*; Tebogo Lebuya 2/56, Heinrich Minnaar 1/18). St Stithians trails by 59 runs.
Nelspruit 227/7 (Joshua Knoetze 71, Janco Breyl 41*; Alec Loveland 4/66, Lwazi Khupe 1/34). St John’s 232/5 (Aiden Barberini 79*, Darshik Lutchman 69; Duan Smal 2/40, Jason Knoetze 2/26). St John’s leads by five runs.
