Moriri and Mokgara lead Queens High to Switch Schools SA20 title
Mankwana Moriri scored a priceless 44 and snapped up a crucial wicket, while Koketso Mokgara stopped the Saints Christian School batters in their tracks to help Queens High secure a tight six-run win in the girls’ final of the Switch Schools SA20 Volume Two Final Showdown on the Tuks Oval on Saturday.
At the conclusion of the event, the individual awards went to Tshepiso Dineo Motswi and Bophelo Sothoane.
Motswi, who represents the Nonkwankwa Hub, took home the Player of the Tournament and Batter of the Tournament accolades. Sothoane, from Saints Christian School, received the Bowler of the Tournament award.
The toss in Saturday’s title game went the way of Boitumelo Chuene, the Queens’ captain, and she chose to bat first.
Her batters answered the call by putting up a winning total of 96/9 in 20 overs. Then, her bowlers bowled a disciplined line, without conceding a single extra, which led to them restricting Saints Christian School to 90/8 in reply.
Moriri led the way for Queens with a brilliant 44 from 49 balls that featured six boundaries. She opened the innings and got her side going with a decisive 46-run opening stand, which she shared with Nonkululeko Mthethwa (13).
The Queens’ innings looked promising, but it lost steam when Mthethwa was dismissed in the ninth over. She was replaced by her captain, Chuene, who faced 15 balls and made six runs.
Then the wheels came off in the 14th over when the Johannesburg school lost Chuene and Tshepang Choma in the space of three deliveries. Spinner Siphokazi Duma trapped Chuene leg before wicket (LBW) and then removed Choma, who was caught after she nicked a delivery.
In the space of 13 balls, Queens scored 11 runs, but they also lost four wickets. They might have soldiered on to 100 runs had Moriri remained in the middle until the final over. Unfortunately for them, she scooped a Bophelo Sothoane delivery to Leeanny Makusha at mid-off while trying to clear the inner ring.
Despite the collapse and a lack of double-figure contributions from their lower order, Queens still mustered a winning total.
Sothoane was Saints’ most successful bowler, capturing 3/23 from four overs, while Siphokazi Duma ended her outing with 2/24 from four overs. Diarabilwe Ngubeni, Reabetswe Ditiphe, and Gogontle Padi picked up a wicket each.
Saints Christian School’s run chase hit an early snag when Siphokazi Duma exited in the fourth over. The Potchefstroom girls consolidated, however, and stabilised their reply with a 20-run second-wicket partnership between Reabatswe Dithipe (16) and Jessica Joshua (18).
That fightback was, however, halted by Koketso Mokgara, who bowled two match-winning overs that crippled the opposition’s reply.
She accounted for Joshua, who was looking comfortable at the crease, in the 11th over, and then bagged two wickets in three deliveries to dismiss Diarabilwe Ngubeni and Gogontle Padi in the 13th over.
Those three scalps undermined the run pursuit, and the Potch girls were unable to recover fully. Leeanny Makusha (18) and Siphumelele Duma (12*) launched a lower-order fightback, but the Queens’ bowling attack maintained its discipline and Saints were unable to generate the runs required for victory.
Mokgara was the leading Queens’ bowler, knocking over 3/14 in four overs. Thanya Nkuna, Karabo Matlaila, Mankwana Moriri, and Bonolo Phalane chipped in with a wicket each to help their team hold off Saints and claim a nail-biting win.
Summarised Scorecard
Queens 96/9 (Mankwana Moriri 44, Nonkululeko Mthethwa 13; Bophelo Sothoane 3/23, Siphokazi Duma 2/24). Saint Christian 90/8 (Joshua Jessica 18, Leeanny Makusha 18; Koketso Mokgara 3/14, Thanya Nkuna 1/9). Queens won by six runs.
