Lutchman fires St John’s past Hilton, Van Biljon’s bat sees DHS down St Stithians
Darshik Lutchman fired St John’s College to a three-wicket win over Hilton College in an Oppenheimer Michaelmas Cricket Week T20 clash at Hilton College on Tuesday afternoon.
The middle-order batsman took charge and scored an unbeaten half-century to propel the Gauteng side to 142/7 in 18.4 overs.
At UKZN, Joshua van Biljon scored an unbeaten 40 to power Durban High School (DHS) to a six-wicket victory over St Stithians.
That win meant DHS finished with a perfect three victories from three matches. Saints, unbeaten at the Michaelmas Week in 2023, went winless this time around.
Hilton batted first on the Hart-Davis Oval and fought their way to 141/6 from their 20 overs, with Monday’s centurion, Charles Swart, following up his ton against Paul Roos Gimnasium with an impressive 51 off 39, which included five fours.
However, Swart’s heroics were matched by Lutchman, for St John’s, as he compiled a steady 56 off 48 deliveries, striking a six and five fours. Batting at four, it’s not often that Lutchman finds himself at the crease inside the first three overs of his side’s innings but, against Hilton, he was out in the middle in the second over after an early collapse.
Batting with composure, the 16-year-old copped a couple of blows to the head, but he took them in his stride and kept guiding his side towards the victory target. Playing textbook shots, he accumulated runs at a pace that steadied the innings and allowed other batsmen to swing at every delivery they faced.
“The young man is still developing his craft. l would say he played out of his skin for the badge,” Bongani Ntini, the St John’s coach, said after the game.
During his time in the middle, Lutchman shared a 21-run third-wicket partnership with Nkosana Sibiya, which came off of 22 balls, but more was needed to guide his side out of the woods.
St John’s needed a fast-scoring partnership, but it didn’t come when Lutchman and Alec Loveland were together. However, when Jacob Smith, the Johannesburg school’s designated finisher, joined Lutchman they lifted the run rate, scoring 58 runs off 40 balls.
Smith played his role as the finisher perfectly, sending three balls over the boundary and three into it as his 27-ball knock produced 40 runs.
Lutchman and Smith’s crucial contributions were built on a foundation afforded to them by the bowling of Oliver Tait and Nkosana Sibiya. They took five wickets between them to help St John’s restrict Hilton to a gettable total.
Tait removed both openers, Robert Burman and Simon Steyn, in two overs. Nkosana then stalled Hilton’s surge at the death by picking up a wicket in each of the 15th, 17th, and 19th overs.
“Nkosana was immense for us today,” coach Ntini enthused. “He bowled a match-winning spell in the middle overs to peg back the opposition, who had a flying start. It wasn’t only the restriction of runs but also the crucial wickets he took when the opposition looked to accelerate and they looked comfortable to post 180-plus,” he explained.
Sibiya, with 3/21 from four overs, was the most successful bowler in the match. Tait did his bit by picking up 2/28 in four, while paceman Natenzi Denenga was Hilton’s best bowler, knocking over 2/26 in 3.4 overs.
St Stithians had a contrasting result to that of their Johannesburg neighbours when they met DHS, and matters started to unravel early on when Dilhan Naraidu dismissed the dangerous duo of Liam Mudenda and Emile Odendaal, two and three in the Saints’ batting order, in the space of three deliveries, with only seven runs on the scoreboard.
Saints recovered through Richard Seletswane and Tahseen Hanslo, who put on 65 in 60 balls for the third wicket. Unfortunately for St Stithians, it was brought to an end by Seletswane being run out by Ethan Cooper for 31 in the 12th over. He was followed by Hanslo a short while later, after Hanslo had scored 38. Aidan van der Westhuizen was the only other Saints’ batsman to reach double figures.
Naraidu, with 2/25 from four overs, was the pick of the DHS bowlers, while Bhavesh Naicker also bagged a brace, claiming 2/27 in four.
In their reply, DHS’s top four batsmen – Ismaeel Omar (8), Sbusiso Msibi (21), Semal Pillay (17), and Sfundo Mthembu (11) – adopted a watchful approach, more often applied in the 50-overs-a-side game. After 10 overs, they had reached only 53/3. A much higher run rate was needed.
Josh van Biljon, who scored a century earlier in the week against Hudson Park, obliged by stepping up to the plate and bludgeoning an unbeaten 40 off 25 balls. His blazing knock featured three fours and a six. He and Lazlo Jooste, who finished unbeaten on 15, shared an unbroken 46-run fifth-wicket partnership to see the Horseflies to victory.
Richard Seletswane was St Stithians’ best bowler with two wickets for 14 runs in four overs.
Summarised Scorecards
Hilton College 141/6 (Charles Swart 51, Robert Burman 24; Nkosana Sibiya 3/21, Oliver Tait 2/28) St John’s College 142/7 (Darshik Lutchman 56, Jacob Smith 40; Natenzi Denenga 2/26). St John’s won by three wickets.
St Stithians College 119/7 (Tahseen Hanslo 38, Richard Seletswane 31; Dilhan Naraidu 2/25, Bhavesh Naicker 2/27) DHS 120/4 (Joshua van Biljon 40*, Sbusiso Msibi 21; Richard Seletswane 2/14, Cayden Sunker 1/9). DHS won by six wickets.
