Kearsney overcomes slow start to stop Clifton
Kearsney College hosted Clifton College on the AH Smith Oval in blistering heat on Saturday, and they soon found themselves feeling the heat when the visitors snatched three wickets in the first nine overs to leave Kearsney sweating on 22/3.
Left-arm spinner Blake Johnson locked down the Kearsney top order. He bowled opener Gary Verbaan for five and recorded the exceptionally economical figures of 1/16 from his 10 overs.
Daniel Rea, meanwhile, was responsible for removing the number two and three batsmen, Rivaan Moodley and Aaron Blackburn, for six and two, respectively.
Clifton had their tails up, but it would be a long time before they again tasted bowling success: 33.1 overs, to be precise.
Captain Keegan de Jager and Asher Hollister settled in and played composed innings to put their team in the ascendancy. Clifton captain Shiraz Perumal kept them quiet, but didn’t pick up a wicket, finishing with a tidy 0/29 from his 10 overs. Eventually, though, it was the left-arm seamer, George Gooch, who broke the fourth-wicket partnership.
It lasted 199 balls, which brought Kearsney 131 runs, and ended with the total on 153 when Hollister holed out to Perumal for the innings’ highest score of 72 from 101 balls, with three fours and two sixes.
De Jager’s resistance ended 10 runs later for 60, when he was caught by Keegan Watson off Muhammed Malek. He had faced 109 balls and hit six fours. When he departed, Kearsney had 6.2 overs remaining, so they hit out, attempting to lift the run rate.
Daniel Rea was helped by Kearsney’s looser approach, with Luke Grobbelaar and Michael Groom both being caught by Hayden Drieselmann at long-off. But Daniel Miskey got going, striking four fours in an undefeated 32 from 25 balls, which helped to carry Kearsney College to 211/7 from their 50 overs.
Rea came in for some stick, but he also enjoyed success, finishing with 4/58 from nine overs.
Clifton made a measured start to their reply, with Daniyaal Klinck and Yusuf Ahmed sharing a first-wicket partnership of 21 before Litha Gonya clipped the stumps with a peach of a delivery to dismiss Ahmed for six.
Muhammed Malek, the scorer of back-to-back centuries at the Independent Schools Cricket Festival, looked reasonably comfortable at the crease, but, in a pivotal moment, he attempted a quick single and was run out by a direct hit from James Bishop for only one. That early in Clifton’s innings, it was an unnecessary risk.
Klinck and Hayden Drieselmann repaired the visitors’ response, though, advancing the total by 76 runs before their third-wicket partnership was halted when Klinck was caught by Aaron Blackburn off Bishop for 48. His 82-ball knock had included seven fours.
Drieselmann followed, the fourth man to lose his wicket, for 43. His innings included five fours and a six from 59 balls. When he exited, Clifton was on 116/4 in the 29th over.
Unfortunately for the visitors, his departure marked the starting point of a slow collapse that lasted just over 11 overs and included seven wickets falling for only 27 runs.
After 39.4 overs, Clifton was bowled out for 143, leaving Kearsney with a convincing 68-run win.
Three Kearsney bowlers bagged a brace each: Gonya returned 2/29 from eight overs, Rivaan Moodley took 2/25 from eight, and Matthew Gorrie grabbed 2/22 from 7.4.
Only Shiraz Perumal, with 11, and Veer Ramouthar, with 10, joined Klinck and Drieselmann in double figures.
Summarised scorecard
Kearsney College 211/7 (Asher Hollister 72, Keegan de Jager 60, Daniel Miskey 32*; Daniel Rea 4/58); Clifton College 143/10 (Daniyaal Klinck 48, Hayden Drieselmann 43; Matthew Gorrie 2/22, Rivaan Moodley 2/25, Litha Gonya 2/29). Kearsney College won by 68 runs.
