Jones and Van der Merwe shine as Parel Vallei beats Curro Durbanville
Parel Vallei outperformed Curro Durbanville in a thrilling end-of-season clash in Somerset West on Saturday.
The hosts won the toss and elected to bat first, which allowed their top-order batsmen to put early pressure on the Curro team.
Their innings began steadily as openers’ Quan van der Merwe, with 55, and Joshua Pretorius, with 37, laid the foundation for a solid total.
Van der Merwe’s half-century included 10 boundaries as the duo got their side to 107 before Pretorius was caught by TJ Moshenyane off a delivery by Reece Bald.
Christopher Hughes joined Van der Merwe at the crease and held up his end after Bald and Moshenyane had combined for a second time to remove the threat of further damage by Van der Merwe.
Having finally made their breakthrough, the Durbanville side had their tails up, taking two more wickets without conceding another run, before Joshua Smit, batting at six, steadied the ship for the home team, making 44 to help them to 246/9.
It was a challenging total, but Curro Durbanville appeared up for that challenge as they moved smoothly along to 92 for 2.
Their top scorer, Dean Huesmann, showed their intent, smashing five sixes and two fours as he raced to 42 before Henry Jones turned the game for the home team with a phenomenal bowling spell. He captured five wickets for only 33 runs and pouched two catches.
Reece Bald played well for Durbanville, resolutely defying the Parel Vallei bowlers, but after Pretorius dismissed Vaughan Flanagan, the rest of the batting lineup fell apart in the face of the onslaught by Henry Jones.
With that, Parel Vallei ended their year on a high and will be keen to build upon the momentum of a very successful term when 2024 rolls around.
Chris Roets was also a five-wicket taker. He knocked over 5 for 17 as Hoërskool Bellville beat Westerford by seven wickets, while Miya Kopo also got in on the act, snapping up 5 for 33 for HTS Bellville in their victory over Milnerton.
Wendal Bantam also starred for HTS, capturing 4/11 and then making an unbeaten 58 to see his side to victory.
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Summarised scorecards:
Parel Vallei 246/9 (Quan van der Merwe 55, Joshua Smit 44; Extras 42; Christopher Hughes 39, Joshua Pretorius 37; Janré Lourens 2/34, Caleb Jonkers 2/43, TJ Moshenyane 2/44); Curro Durbanville 157 (Dean Huesmann 42, Reece Bald 38*, Vaughan Flanagan 28; Henry Jones 5/33, Joshua Pretorius 2/26, Christopher Hughes 2/39). Parel Vallei won by 89 runs.
Boland Landbou 211/7 (Marius du Plessis 60, Lohann Louw 38, H Swart 32*; Xander van Aarde 2/35, Hugo Bredell 2/51); Durbanville High School 45 (Tobias Roelofse 17; Gunther Schmidt 4/10; Francois Prins 4/15). Boland Landbou won by 166 runs.
Westerford 105 (Imaad Hassan 26, Nicholas Lombard 22; Chris Roets 5/17, Wian van den Heever 2/9); Hoërskool Bellville 109/3 (Gustav Maass 28; Owen Kretschmer 26*, Onke Matzishana 23; As’ad Salie 1/25). Hoërskool Bellville won by seven wickets.
Milnerton 86 (Connor Huxham 21; Miya Kopo 5/33, Wendal Bantam 4/11); HTS Bellville 90/5 (Wendal Bantam 58*; James Hoare 2/15, Rico Blom 2/18). HTS Bellville won by five wickets.
