Ford drives St John’s to victory on Jeppe’s Beckwith Oval

St John’s College allrounder Chris Ford played a crucial knock of 85 runs from 92 balls to put his side in the driver’s seat as he steered the visiting side to a crucial 47-run win over hosts Jeppe High School for Boys.

Jeppe won the toss and sent in the visiting side, hoping to capitalize on the early morning conditions and making use of any juice in the pitch on the Beckwith Oval.

Fast bowler Jerimiah Marshall took 2/44 from his nine overs which included castling over opening batsmen Nkosana Sibiya.

The tall all-rounder Ford, coming in at number eight had his work cut out for him, as the rest of the line-up struggled to score runs after experiencing a slight collapse in the middle-order, Ford batted at just under a run-ball.

He was well supported by Cole Francis (34, 49b) who shared in a 65-run partnership to guide the side to a respectable total of 256. 

Ford, having a cracker of a match, was instrumental in the second innings, picking up a wicket in his first over of the second innings, putting Jeppe on the backfoot, right from the onset. 

First change bowler Malan Du Plessis, bowled well picking up figures of 3/28 from his 6 overs which included a wicket-maiden in the 20th over, reducing the home team to 54/5. 

Staring down a mammoth task in front of the lower order, Chris Elston and Jerimiah Marshall shared in a brilliant 99-run partnership, for the 8th wicket. Both batters scored half-centuries for their team, but would have needed to kick-on to see their side through to the end. 

With the tail wagging slightly the St John’s bowlers wrapped up the innings with Cole Francis (3/40) making the important breakthrough to remove Elston for 61 runs from 71 balls, which included six fours and one six.  

Jeppe would have felt that the number of extras that they bowled in the first innings potentially was the difference in the match, plus the two dropped catches of Ford. The Jeppe bowlers sent down 36 extras, which included 29 wides compared to St John’s who were slightly more disciplined only leaking 11 extras.

Score:

St John’s College 256/10 from 47 overs (Chris Ford 85, Cole Francis 34, Extras 36; Jerimiah Marshall 2/44, Tino Mutekwa 2/52, Ryan Harcourt-Baldwin 2/46); Jeppe High School for Boys  209/10 from 48.3 overs (Elston 61, Marshall 50, Extras: 11; Malan Du Plessis 3/21, Cole Francis 3/40, Chris Ford 2/35). St John’s College won by 47 runs.