Graeme College rules the roost in the Focus Schools leg of Schools SA20
Kitts McConnachie produced a superb all-round performance to help Graeme College secure a comfortable 40-run win over Queen’s College to claim top honours in the Focus Schools leg of the Switch Schools SA20 – Volume Two competition at the Old Selbornian Club, in East London, on Sunday afternoon.
Andrew Muir, the Graeme College captain, won the toss and elected to bat first on a sluggish surface that had been in use since Friday – the fifth match at Old Selbornians in three days – when the Focus Schools’ matches began.
Graeme College fought their way to 119/8 in 20 overs. In reply, Queen’s College struggled to put together partnerships and mustered only 79/9 in their 20 overs.
Their triumph over Queen’s underlined Graeme’s dominance at the tournament. The men from Makhanda went unbeaten and issued a statement of intent with a nine-wicket win over Hudson Park in their opening match.
Their semifinal tie against Prestige College was washed out, which led to a bowl-out, where Corbin Tidbury showcased his accuracy with the ball to see them into the final against Queen’s, whom they had beaten by four wickets in a round-robin match.
In the title game, a 20-run opening stand between Enrique Strydom and Olo Jaca provided Graeme with a foundation from which to build their innings. Tidbury, who arrived at the crease after Strydom’s dismissal, tried to push the game forward, but he was dismissed, caught at extra cover, after adding 10 runs from nine balls.
Jaca held things together for Graeme with a more than patient 19 from 40 deliveries, and Luphelo Mdyesha, who replaced Tidbury, contributed 16 from 20. However, Graeme’s leading light was middle order batsman Kitts McConnachie, who looked like the only player to have gotten the measure of the pitch. He raced to 30 from 19 balls.
Just before Graeme crossed the 100-run mark, he was dismissed. It appeared that Graeme was about to squander the momentum that he had given them. However, 11 from only three balls from James Muir prevented that.
McConnachie, then, put his all-round abilities on display by claiming the wickets of Kungawo Zukiso and Ali Asim as Graeme denied Queen’s room to express themselves with the bat.
In addition to those two scalps, McConnachie also completed two catches to account for Joe Aucamp and Ross Fitzhenry.
Fitzhenry’s wicket was important because the middle-order batsman seemed to be getting in his stride when he was dismissed, having scored 18 from 26 balls, which was the top score for Queen’s.
Duncan Hayes was the only other Queen’s batsman to reach double figures, chipping in with 15 from 22 balls.
Summarised Scorecard
Graeme College 119/8 (Kitt McConnachie 30, Olo Jaca 19, Luphelo Mdyesha 16; Vijay George 3/31, Mthokozisi Mbambo 2/19, Kungawo Zukiso 2/18). Queen’s College 79/9 (Ross Fitzhenry 18, Duncan Hayes 15; Luphelo Mdyesha 2/16, Corbin Tidbury 2/7, Kitt McConnachie 2/9). Graeme College won by 40 runs.
