Genis, Strydom power Middies to 199-run win in Schools SA20 clash
There have been some noteworthy performances in the first round of the Switch School SA20 competition in Mpumalanga over the first few weeks of action.
Hoërskool Secunda‘s Nathan Erasmus still holds the highest individual total thus far, having scored a blistering 116 not out against Embu Hub on 17 September. He was joined by Luan Swart, who in the same fixture also surpassed the century mark with an unbeaten 103. Both faced fewer than 70 deliveries in their quest to score as many runs as possible in the allotted 20 overs.
Erasmus used only 65 deliveries, smashing 15 fours and six sixes, while scoring even faster, facing only 42 deliveries. He struck 10 fours and eight sixes in the pair’s 180-run partnership and a team total of 245/1 in 20 overs. The side from Secunda won this fixture by 37 runs.
That was also the highest team total until Hoërskool Middelburg unleashed on the same Emba side on Wednesday, 1 October, concluding their 20 overs on 290/5.
Gavin Genis and Eduan Strydom became the second pair to score a century in the same T20 fixture, both making 106. They also surpassed Erasmus and Swart for the highest partnership, contributing a massive 190 runs together.
Genis, as per usual, was the main aggressor and dealt mostly in sixes, with 10 landing on the other side of the boundary rope. He also smashed seven fours, with 96 of his runs coming from boundaries. Strydom, at the other end, wasn’t much slower, using 47 balls for his 106. He hit nine fours and seven sixes, taking the pair’s boundary count up to an astonishing 35 from a combined 86 balls.
The writing was on the wall when Wildré Cilliers shone when it was his turn with the ball. Three wickets upfront (3/17), alongside Xander Engelbrecht‘s 2/18, broke the backbone of the Emba batting lineup. At 38/5, the visiting Emba had suffered too much damage to recover, slumping to 91 all out and a defeat by 199 runs, also the biggest winning margin to date.
What makes these performances by Secunda and the Middies even more impressive is that Emba will have three representatives at the Khaya Majola Week set to take place in Bloemfontein later this year.
Hoërskool Nelspruit also won their first T20 encounter comfortably, beating Malekutu Hub by 117 runs on Tuesday, 30 September. De Jong Schreuder led the way with an unbeaten 60 runs, while Dian Boucher smashed the ball all over the Nellie-Oval. Boucher’s unbeaten 52 runs came from just 18 balls, and included four fours and four sixes. Juan Maritz also made a half-century, contributing 51 from a mere 26 balls.
Summarised scorecard: 01 October 2025
Hoërskool Middelburg 290/5 (Eduan Strydom 106, Gavin Genis 106, Hendré Nel 33*; B Blessing 2/57); Emba Hub 91 (B Blessing 36, Extras 21; Wildré Cilliers 3/17, Gavin Genis 2/5, Xander Engelbrecht 2/18). Hoërskool Middelburg won by 199 runs.
