Jim Fouché holds off Diamantveld in T20 night game
The toss favoured Hoërskool Jim Fouché (JF) on Wednesday night when they took on the visiting Hoërskool Diamantveld in a T20 in Bloemfontein.
JF chose to bat first and received their biggest contributions from batsmen four and five, Cobus Wilken and Ruan Klein, who weighed in 37 runs each.
Wilken smacked two sixes in his 34-ball innings, while Klein struck four fours from the 28 deliveries he faced.
Arno Mostert excelled for the Kimberley school. He gave up a miserly 10 runs from his four overs and claimed two wickets. Francois Holtzhausen also removed two batsmen, but his four overs were dearer, costing 30 runs.
After their 20 overs, the Bloemfontein locals had tallied 135/7.
In the chase, the Kimberley outfit found themselves in a spot of bother early on, at 16/2 after 3.3 overs. Cobus Fourie, who made his way to the crease after the fall of the first wicket, dug his side out of a trench, scoring 28 off 33 deliveries.
When Arno Mostert headed to the middle, the score was 57/3 after 11.4 overs. By then, Diamantveld needed to bat at almost 10 runs per over. Mostert was up for the challenge. He pummelled four sixes and a four in his side’s top score of 47 from only 28 deliveries.
His fighting knock, however, proved to be too little too late. Frustratingly for the visitors, they came up only five runs short of the home team’s total, finishing on 130/6.
All five of the JF bowlers claimed a wicket while also sending down their full quota of four overs each. Benco Olivier also chipped in with a run out.
Thanks to a good effort in the field, Jim Fouché did just enough to record a hard-fought victory.
Summarised Scorecards
Hoërskool Jim Fouché 135/7 (Ruan Klein 37, Cobus Wilken 37, Joben Vorster 23; Arno Mostert 2/10, Francois Holtzhausen 2/30) Hoërskool Diamantveld 130/6 (Arno Mostert 47, Cobus Fourie 28). Jim Fouché won by five runs.
