Grey College turns Jacaranda city into a happy hunting ground
Grey College, from Bloemfontein, turned the Jacaranda city into a happy hunting ground on the weekend by picking up two big wins over top Pretoria schools, and they added a win in Johannesburg for good measure.
On Saturday, the side from the Free State came out on top in their first T20 of the day against a strong Pretoria Boys High side.
In a low-scoring affair, they secured a two-wicket victory, thanks to Daniel Hattingh’s 41, which proved to be the deciding factor in the game.
The Grey opening bowlers, Sicelo Matayi (3/2) and Casper Trotskie (3/9), were in red-hot form, claiming six wickets between them up front. River Scott chipped in with two wickets of his own as the Grey attack restricted Boys High to a meagre 103 all out.
Graydon Lubbe was the Pretoria side’s stand-out performer with the bat, top-scoring with a mature 42 runs. His colleagues in the bowling department, Nic Rossouw (2/15) and Tim Tattersall (2/24), with four wickets between them, tried valiantly to stop the visitors. They didn’t have enough runs to play with, however, and the Bloem boys sealed victory in the 19th over.
Later that afternoon, Grey College crossed paths with Jeppe High School for Boys in their second T20 of the day. A similar trend followed, with another low-scoring affair going the way of the men from the Free State.
This time around, Henru de Wet led the Grey bowling attack, capturing 2/14. Sicelo Matayi was among the wickets again, bagging another two, to take his tally to five in the two T20 matches.
Jeppe struggled against the disciplined Grey bowlers, making just 96/6 in their 20 overs, led by Ryan Harcourt-Baldwin’s 20.
When Grey batted, Shreshth Kumar was the pick of the Jeppe bowlers, claiming two of the four wickets to fall at a cost of 28 runs.
However, Ruben Maree’s 24 and Pieter Smit’s 23 from 26 balls saw the Bloemfontein school home with six wickets to spare.
On Sunday, a big test awaited Grey College. Having to face the powerful Hoërskool Waterkloof on home turf certainly flipped a switch for the men from the Free State. Sicelo Matayi (3/25) and Casper Trotskie (3/29) were on song again as they tore through the Klofies’ top order.
A flu-ridden Marcus Bakker battled manfully to top score for Waterkloof with 27 from 28 deliveries. His captain Beukes van den Berg and Jaydon Blom, with 20 runs each, were the only other batsmen to make notable contributions as the home team mustered only 139.
Christian Kind then led Grey’s reply. The opening batsman struck an unbeaten 55 runs from 64 deliveries and, together with Adem Niewoudt (30) and Ruben Maree (26), propelled the visitors to within eight runs of the Waterkloof total before the heavens opened up. That was more than sufficient to secure Grey a comfortable DLS win.
Summarised scorecards
Pretoria Boys High 103 (Graydon Lubbe 42; Sicelo Matayi 3/2, Casper Trotskie 3/9, River Scott 2/35); Grey College 104/8 (Daniel Hattingh 41; Nic Rossouw 2/15, Tim Tattersall 2/24). Grey College won by two wickets.
Jeppe High School for Boys 96/6 (Ryan Harcourt-Baldwin 20; Henru de Wet 2/14, Sicelo Matayi 2/22); Grey College 99/4 (Ruben Maree 24*, Pieter Smit 23; Shreshth Kumar 2/28). Grey College won by six wickets.
Waterkloof 139 (Marcus Bakker 27, Beukes van den Berg 20, Jaydon Blom 20; Sicelo Matayi 3/25, Casper Trotskie 3/29, Darion Rabie 2/19, Daniel Hattingh 2/20); Grey College 131/5 (Christian Kind 55*, Adem Niewoudt 30, Ruben Maree 26; Wian Ruthven 2/17). Grey College won by 48 runs on DLS.
