Mpumalanga’s best clash in Noordvaal playoffs, Hans Moore targets Ysbere
Mpumalanga’s two best school cricket sides, Hoërskool Middelburg and Hoërskool Nelspruit, meet in the playoff round of the Fain Noordvaal competition on Saturday, with a quarterfinals place on the line.
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The Nellies travel to Middelburg to face the Middies for a third time this year, having twice come out on the wrong end of the result in their previous matches.
Presented with another chance to topple the Mpumalanga champions, Nelspruit will have one specific goal in mind and that’s claiming the prized wicket of Middies’ Gavin Genis.
The all-rounder has been a thorn in the side of Middies’ opposition throughout their unbeaten league campaign, but the Nellies, especially, have endured his wrath.
On the two occasions the sides met earlier in the season, Genis shifted into a higher gear, smashing 72 from 52 balls in the first encounter, and then used only 107 balls to score 128 runs in their second meeting. He tallied an impressive 448 runs in six league games, at an average of 89.6, while scoring two centuries and three fifties.
Saturday’s showdown will be another good test of the all-round abilities of Nellies’ Jayden Meyer. The experienced top-order batsman has been pivotal for the side from Mbombela throughout the year, anchoring the innings at three and bowling at first change. Nathan and John Duncan will also have important roles to play if Nelspruit is to defeat Middelburg.
The clash between Benoni’s Hoërskool Hans Moore and Hoërskool Garsfontein‘s Ysbere could be a thriller.
Possessing an immensely powerful batting lineup, led by captain Warren Minnaar and Xavier Coetzee, Hans Moore will be quietly confident that they are more than capable of beating the side from Pretoria. They will, however, have to get past Garsfontein’s Khaya Majola quick bowler, Nayleo Sanna, and the dangerous Eckardt Struwig.
Struwig, especially, has been impressive with the ball. He was exceptional against Prestige College, claiming an impressive five-wicket haul, which included a hat-trick.
Hoërskool Menlopark will head into their clash on Saturday confident of advancing. They’re playing at home and their captain Steve Stolk was at his destructive best during the recent Westvaal North/South T20 Tournament, where he scored a boatload of runs, including two mammoth centuries.
The visitors, Hoërskool Dr Malan, should offer a good challenge. Their strength lies in their batting, with Luka Pretorius and opening batsman Kegan Meyer the pace-setters in that department. They shone in a recent one-wicket loss to Heidelberg Volkskool in the Ekurhuleni League final and will be the batsmen targeted by Menlopark’s bowlers.
Hoërskool Bastion will have to deal with Limpopo’s leading wicket-taker, Timothy Baker when they welcome Merensky Landbou Akademie from behind the Citrus Curtain. Baker’s snared 18 scalps in seven games with his left-arm off-spin, which has included a five-wicket haul.
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