Magical Marais scores second consecutive Grey Festival century

Grey High vs Jeppe High School for Boys

Grey High opener, Cullen Marais, has enjoyed the home conditions at the Grey Festival, playing two innings and scoring two centuries thus far.

On Saturday, he and James Upton arrived at the crease after the hosts won the toss against Jeppe High School for Boys and decided to bat first in a 50-over contest on the Pollock Oval.

Facing 100 balls, Marais hammered 14 fours and two sixes in a brilliant 102. Upton, at the other end, supported him with a conservative 42 off 68 as the pair produced a first wicket partnership of 118 runs off 132 deliveries to lay a strong foundation.

After their dismissals, however, the visitors’ bowling attack found their rhythm and Grey was bowled out for 247 after 49 overs. Reza Ayob led Jeppe’s effort, capturing 3/21 in 10 overs.

When they replied, the Johannesburg locals struggled to develop a solid foundation of their own. Ryan Young, batting at five, was Jeppe’s best batsman, scoring 45 off 72 balls.

However, the match steadily tilted firmly in favour of the home side, resulting into a feeding frenzy for the Grey bowlers. Anfred Jansen snapped up 3/11 in three overs, while Connor Parry took 2/10 in four, and Matthew Tinley put the contest to bed with his 2/12 from 5.2 overs.

After 200 deliveries, Jeppe was bowled all out for 121, leaving Grey High with a resounding 126-run victory.

St Andrew’s School vs Kearsney College

St. Andrew’s School and Kearsney College met at Victoria Park High, where the Botha’s Hill residents won the toss and continued the festival’s trend of opting to bat first.

Unfortunately for them, like pharmacists in a lab, there was chemistry in the Saints‘ bowling attack.

Heindré Serfontein and Erhard Barends put the Greyhounds‘ batting lineup under pressure with their economic bowling, with the former returning 0/17 in five overs, and the latter achieving 0/19 in 10 miserly overs.

The pressure piled up and caused the Kearsney batsmen to play a bit too ambitiously. Schalk van Rensburg and Ryle Beckmann took advantage of that anxiety and nabbed 3/21 in six overs and 2/17 in nine respectively.

At the back end, Nikhil Sukraj wrapped the innings up like a Christmas present, dispatching 5/30 in 8.4 overs as Kearsney was bowled out for 105 after 38.4 overs.

Opener, Gary Verbaan, cracked six fours and a six in an unbeaten 48 off 91 deliveries, but found little support from his fellow batsmen.

Leg spinner Rivan Moodley snared 4/43 in the St Andrew’s run chase, which took his festival haul to an impressive 10/108 from 201 deliveries across two innings.

However, the Bloemfontein boys needed only 25.4 overs to take victory by five wickets. Captain Reuben van Aarde was once again his side’s top scorer, tallying three fours and a six in his 25 off 39 deliveries.

Pearson High vs Grey College

Pearson High, well beaten by St Andrew’s in a declaration game, reversed their fortunes when they took on Saints‘ Bloemfontein neighbours, Grey College, at home.

Opener Christian Kind got the visitors off to a strong start, smashing six fours and two sixes in his 48 off 41 before he was caught by Ruan Coetzee off the bowling of Sulaymaan Gangat, who gave Grey headaches, nabbing 4/29 in 10 overs.

Daniel Ritchie also troubled the Grey batmen, picking up 3/33 from 7.5 overs as College was dismissed for 151 after 34.5 overs.

Openers, Juandré van Rooyen and Cale Price, then gave Pearson a strong start to their run chase, scoring 22 and 27 respectively, while putting on 67 for the first wicket.

They were aided by an untidy effort from the Grey bowlers, who gave up 24 wides as part of 29 extras. That boosted Pearson’s efforts and an unbeaten 29 from Gangat helped them overhaul the victory target in 40.3 overs for the loss of six wickets.

Summarised Scorecards

Grey High 247/10 (Cullen Marais 102, James Upton 42, Anfred Jansen 23, Logan Goddard-Ford 22, Extras 20; Reza Ayob 3/21, Phumelo Sekopane 2/43, Lincoln Casais 2/54, Shreth Kumar 2/55); Jeppe High School for Boys 121/10 (Ryan Young 45, Lincoln Casais 24; Anfred Jansen 3/11, Connor Parry 2/10, Matthew Tinley 2/12). Grey High won by 126 runs.

Kearsney College 105/10 (Gary Verbaan 48*; Nikhil Sukraj 5/30, Schalk van Rensburg 3/21, Kyle Beckmann 2/17); St Andrew’s School 106/5 (Reuben van Aarde 25, Erhard Barends 22; Rivan Moodley 4/42). St. Andrew’s School won by five wickets.

Grey College 151/10 (Christian Kind 48, River Scott 29, Ethan Helmand 21; Sulaymaan Gangat 4/29, Daniel Ritchie 3/33); Pearson High 153/6 (Sulaymaan Gangat 29*, Extras 29, Cale Price 27, Juandré van Rooyen 22; Daniel Hattingh 3/38, Juan Maree 2/27). Pearson High won by four wickets.