Juandré Verwey leads Helpmekaar to their first-ever Johnny Waite title
Juandré Verwey claimed a masterful five-wicket haul to lead Helpmekaar College to an emphatic 45-run win over King Edward VII School (KES) in the final of the Johnny Waite Trophy at the University of Johannesburg on Wednesday afternoon.
It was the first time in the history of Helpmekaar that the school had secured the prestigious T20 title.
The toss went Helpies‘ way and Kyle Swanepoel, their captain, elected to bat first.
Helpmekaar’s top seven struggled to get going, but Kevin Oliver then played an inspired innings to lift them to 117 all out in 18 overs. Verwey was in fine form with the ball, and he saw to it that the KES batsmen never settled. In just 15.5 overs, they were dismissed for only 72.
He was introduced into the attack in the fifth over, but it cost him seven runs, which included two wides. Four overs later, Swanepoel threw Verwey the ball again with KES on 47/3 and that changed the complexion of the match.
Verwey opened the over with a wicket and closed it with another one. That double strike destroyed the momentum KES had been trying to build.
In his next over, the 12th, Verwey struck again, pulling off a caught and bowled to get rid of Khwezi Nyamathe. Verwey’s last over, the 14th of the KES innings, featured another two wickets. He finished with a match-winning five wickets for 17 runs from four overs.
Henno Steyn, the next best of the Helpmekaar bowlers, returned two wickets for 10 runs from two overs.
Only Tiago Dias, who scored 25 from 21 balls, batting at three for KES, made it beyond the teens. In fact, Zieg Roos, with 14 from 18, was the only other batsman to move beyond single figures.
Helpmekaar had their own struggles when batting first, losing three wickets in the powerplay, as the KES bowling attack took control. Anthony Stone and Heinrich Minnaar attempted to stabilise matters, but their fifth-wicket partnership was worth only 21 runs. Later in the innings, Helpmekaar’s highest partnership came when Kevin Oliver and Xander Jackson combined to score 25 runs for the eighth wicket.
As he is wont to do, Oliver put on a show while Jackson watched from the other end. In just 28 balls, he struck three sixes and two fours and finished with 41, easily the highest individual score of the match.
Three KES bowlers – Wade McQuinn, Christian Sabela, and Luke Clark – returned identical figures, all picking up two wickets for 16 runs from three overs. Matthew Burgess also claimed two wickets but was a touch on the expensive side.
Scorecards
Helpmekaar 117/10 (Kevin Oliver 41, Anthony Stone 15, Luke Clark 2/16, Christian Sabela 2/16, Wade McQuinn 2/16). KES 72/10 (Tiago Dias 23, Zieg Roos 14, Juandré Verwey 5/17, Henno Steyn 2/10). Helpmekaar won by 45 runs.
