Gordon, Young, and Collins hit the ground running at Michaelmas
Ryan Young, Troy Gordon, and Thomas Collins were in outstanding form for Jeppe, King Edward VII (KES), and St Stithians respectively on Saturday, the first day of the Oppenheimer Michaelmas Cricket Week.
In another match featuring a Gauteng side, St David’s Marist Inanda unleashed the full might of their collective effort to make light work of Westville Boys’ High.
Young smoked a brilliant century to set the stage for Jeppe’s emphatic 162-run win over Hudson Park at Collegians.
The Jeppe captain lost the toss, but not much more went wrong for him after that. His side was asked to bat first, and he led the way with an imperious 127 from 123 balls to steer Jeppe to 296/7, before marshalling his bowling attack well as they dismissed Hudson Park for 134 in 40 overs.
When Young walked out to the crease, Jeppe was on 68/2, thanks to a brisk knock from Tiago Almeida (58 from 47 balls) that made up for Zizi Mkhize and Munib Ayob’s cheap dismissals. The skipper immediately took control of the innings and didn’t let go until the 47th over. His 102-run fourth-wicket stand with Aiden Reyneke (43) was the foundational beam of Jeppe’s big total.
In reply, Hudson Park made a good start, with a 57-run opening partnership between Iminathi Sam and Alulutho Mapukata. Then, though, the wheels came off, with five wickets falling for 35 runs in 10.5 overs, and the East London school didn’t recover. The rest of the batting lineup added only 42 runs in the next 20 overs.
At Richmond, Troy Gordon stood head and shoulders above his teammates, scoring an unbeaten 90 to shepherd KES to a three-wicket triumph over Kearsney College.
Zieg Roos, the KES captain, assessed conditions and determined that chasing would be better, so he asked Kearsney to bat first. The KwaZulu-Natal side struggled to get going and lost three wickets in the powerplay. However, Cole Young stepped up and kept an end intact with a well-played 83 from 122 balls, but he received little support, with no other Kearsney batsmen making it out of the teens.
When KES batted, Gordon found himself in a similar predicament to Young. The biggest difference was the contribution of Roos (27), with whom he shared a 77-run fourth-wicket stand, which helped to significantly reduce the gap between the sides.
KES needed only 55 runs to win, with six wickets in hand, when the captain was dismissed, and Gordon took it upon himself to see his team home.
At Eston, Thomas Collins stepped up and recorded a watchful half-century to guide St Stithians to a three-wicket win over Durban High School (DHS).
The Gauteng side’s Tahseen Hanslo won the toss and elected to bowl, and his bowlers made good use of conditions to dismiss DHS for 163 in 37.4 overs. Akhil Challa delivered an almost unplayable 3.4-over spell that earned him a four-wicket haul as DHS was restricted to a gettable total.
The Horseflies‘ top three, as usual, made runs. Ismaeel Omar led the way with 42, Josh van Biljon chipped in with 41, and Ethan Cooper contributed 20 but, apart from 24 from captain Bayanda Majola, there was not much more to speak about.
Unfortunately, for the St Stithians’ bowling hero, Challa, he was unable to perform heroics with the bat; he fell on the first delivery he faced and was replaced by Collins. The number three batsman made sure that Saints didn’t lose wickets at both ends, compiling a steady, unbeaten 69 from 96 deliveries while the rest of the Johannesburg side’s lineup batted around him as they tallied 165/7 in 36 overs.
In Pietermaritzburg, St David’s Marist Inanda showed the might of their bowling attack as they cantered to a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Westville at Varsity 1. The Jason Rowles-captained team won the toss, elected to bowl first, and dismantled Westville for only 93 runs in 31.2 overs.
Kyle McGough resisted with a hard-earned 20 from 52 deliveries, while Westville’s next-best effort came from Seth Simpson with a relatively brisk 25-ball 16, while the St David’s bowling attack was the third-highest contributor to the Westville score with 13 extras. However, they made up for that by restricting their opposition to less than 100 runs in 31.2 overs.
The St David’s batsmen then needed only 13.3 overs to chase down the victory target. Sohail Seonath led the scoring with an unbeaten 43-ball 40, while Rowles was the next-best batter with a quick 36 from 29.
Scorecards
Jeppe 296/7 (Ryan Young 127, Tiago Almeida 58; Somila Mkokeli 3/61, Lukhanyo Hlathuka 2/63). Hudson Park 134/10 (Iminathi Sam 43, Alulutho Mapukata 24; Shreth Kumar 3/22, Reza Ayob 2/18). Jeppe won by 162 runs.
Kearsney 168/10 (Cole Young 83, Jonty Wiggett 18; Luke Clark 3/23, Lebone Ramedupe 3/37). KES 171/7 (Troy Gordon 90*, Zieg Roos 27; Rivaan Moodley 3/40, James Bishop 1/15). KES won by three wickets.
DHS 163/10 (Ismaeel Omar 42, Josh van Biljon 41; Akhil Challa 4/13, Zaakir Hanslo 3/46). St Stithians 165/7 (Thomas Collins 69*, Matthew Anderson 30; Taine Havemann 2/15, Joshua Moeley 2/51). St Stithians won by three wickets.
Westville 93/10 (Kyle McGough 20, Seth Simpson 16; Kyle Butler 3/14, Christopher Emslie 2/25). St David’s 95/2 (Sohail Seonath 40*, Jason Rowles 36; Tristan Delvin 1/8, Dayalan Boyce 1/29). St David’s won by eight wickets.
