Gordon and Omar fire KES and DHS to victories
Troy Gordon and Ismaeel Omar produced stellar performances with the bat for King Edward VII (KES) and Durban High School (DHS) against St Andrew’s School and Wynberg Boys’ High respectively to power their sides to victories in their Wildeklawer T20 matches on Friday.
King Edward VII (KES) vs St Andrew’s School
Zieg Roos, the KES captain, placed his trust in his batsmen and opted to visit the crease first when the toss went his way. Gordon, who has been in superlative form, repaid his skipper’s confidence by keeping the ball on the ground as he stroked six fours on his way to a steady 45-ball 55 that set KES up for a total of 144/6.
Roos then deployed his bowlers well, and they dismissed St Andrew’s for 116 in 19.1 overs to record a 28-run win.
Gordon was forced to make an early appearance at the crease after Luke Clark lost his wicket in the first over. Playing with composure, he spent the next 15.2 overs in the middle and shared a 71-run third wicket partnership with Roos, whose measured 24 from 29 balls was the Johannesburg school’s second-highest score.
When St Andrew’s batted, they were unable to establish a foothold, thanks mostly to the efforts of Connor Kuijers and Lebone Ramedupe, who snapped up three wickets each for KES. They finished with almost identical analyses, with Ramedupe picking up 3/16 in four overs, and Kuijers claiming 3/17 from four.
FG Botha top-scored for St Andrew’s with 25 from 24 balls, while Reuben van Aarde contributed 22 from 22 deliveries.
Durban High School (DHS) vs Wynberg Boys’ High
Left-handed opening batsman Ismaeel Omar slashed 87 from 59 balls to lead DHS to 158/5 against Wynberg on Pretoria High School Old Boys’ Hofmeyr Park A Field. School‘s bowlers then gave little away to hold Wynberg to 147/4 in reply, thus resulting in an 11-run win for the Horseflies.
Omar almost lasted the entire DHS innings, losing his wicket with only two balls remaining. By then, though, he, along with Taine Havermann, who weighed in with 35, had set up their side for victory.
When Wynberg replied, Michail Tarentaal was the joint top run-scorer with Storme van Rooyen, with both tallying 36 runs. Unfortunately for Cape Town school, they couldn’t escape the shackles of a tidy DHS attack, and they came up a little short of the mark.
Grey High School vs CSA Hub Invitational XI
At the Gijima Sports Ground, Connor Parry packed four fours and two sixes into an unbeaten 46 from 35 balls to set the stage for Grey High’s six-wicket win over the CSA Hub Invitational XI. Chasing the Hub XI’s modest 82 all out, Grey cruised to victory in 13 overs, with Parry’s knock doing the heavy lifting.
Only three batsmen from the Invitational XI, Mkosibonile Sibisi (17), Daveric Petersen (16), and Kurt Botha (12) reached double figures.
Jeppe High School for Boys vs Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool
Jeppe edged out Affies by a single run in a low-scoring thriller at Sinovich Park, performing a minor miracle by successfully defending a sub-standard score.
The Kensington boys won the toss and chose to bat first but run scoring was tough and they stumbled to only 90 all in their 20 overs.
Petrus Rautenbach was Affies’ destroyer in chief, sending four batsmen packing for only nine runs from his four overs, while Ryan Young led Jeppe’s batting effort with 22 runs from 17 balls.
It didn’t appear as if Jeppe had posted a winning total, but 90 runs proved to be just enough. Shreth Kumar led their bowling attack, snaring 3/15 from four overs, which helped to ensure Affies came up agonisingly short, finishing on 89/8 in reply.
JP Botha was Affies’ highest scorer with 21 runs from 24 balls, while Vihan Pretorius and Daniel Murray added 16 runs each.
Summarised Scorecards
KES 144/6 (Troy Gordon 55, Zieg Roos 24; Heindré Serfontein 3/22, Cullen Kakora 1/25) St Andrew’s School 116/10 (FG Botha 25, Reuben van Aarde 22; Lebone Ramedupe 3/16, Connor Kuijers 3/17). KES won by 28 runs.
DHS 158/5 (Ismaeel Omar 87, Taine Havemann 35; Joshua Prince 2/27, Michail Tarentaal 1/24). Wynberg 147/4 (Michail Tarentaal 36*, Storme van Rooyen 36; Taine Havemann 1/14, Ethan Cooper 1/12, Bayanda Majola 1/25). DHS won by 11 runs.
CSA Invitational Hub XI 82/10 (Mkosibonile Sibisi 17, Daveric Petersen 16; Matthew Marshbank 3/11, Logan Groch 2/3). Grey High 83/4 (Connor Parry 46*, Markus Potgieter 22; Awonke Mngini 2/13, Rivoningo Chauke 1/14). Grey High won by six wickets.
Jeppe 90/10 (Ryan Young 22, Reza Ayob 18*; Petrus Rautenbach 4/9, Nico Loggenberg 2/14, Zian Labuschagne 2/14). Affies 89/8 (JP Botha 21, Daniel Murray 16*, Vihan Pretorius 16, Shreth Kumar 3/15). Jeppe won by one run.
