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Munib Ayob bowls Jeppe to victory over St John’s

By CS Chiwanza , in Cricket | Featured Cricket | News , at 2025-01-30 Tags: , , ,

Munib Ayob held his nerve and defended 10 runs in the 20th over to help Jeppe High School for Boys secure a tight five-run win over St John’s College in a Johnny Waite Trophy thriller contested on the Mitchell Field, in Houghton, on Thursday.

Jeppe won the toss, opted to bat first, and put up 139/5. St John’s had a shot at bagging the win when they completed the 19th over needing 11 runs from the remaining six balls to snatch the win.

Munib Ayob was up for the challenge, however, and he produced a fine over to lead Jeppe to victory after they restricted the St John’s reply to 134/9.

Sipho Potsane, the Jeppe captain, planned to employ Ayob’s skills at the death and used him sparingly early on. The pacer delivered one over in the powerplay and the 14th over, too, which cost him 11 runs in total.

At the death, he did a superb job. He bowled the 18th over and conceded only five runs. Then, he won the game for Jeppe in the last over, which also went for only five runs.

The Jeppe bench might have been on the edge of their seats at the start of the final over because of the presence of an accomplished batsman, Nkosana Sibiya, at the crease. Ayob calmed their nerves, however dismissing the St John’s star, who represented the Central Gauteng Lions’ u16 team at the end of 2024, with his first delivery of the last over.

Sibiya was the key wicket. Batting third in the order, he had arrived at the crease in the first over and played a patient innings, scoring at around a run-a-ball while holding the St John’s run chase together. He turned up the heat in the 19th over by plundering 14 runs off Reza Ayob, which left St John’s needing 11 runs for the last over. Sibiya, then, fell for a valiant 52 off 44 balls.

Ayob drove the final nail in the host’s coffin by removing Joshua Hall three balls after Sibiya’s dismissal. The pacer finished with two wickets for 21 runs from four overs. Reza Ayob, Potsane, and Zizi Mkhize also bagged two wickets each, while Franco Nortjie took a single wicket.

Earlier in the day, Ayob shared a 66-run fifth-wicket partnership with Keegan Caxeiro that helped Jeppe set St John’s a run rate of seven runs an over to win. They came together in the 11th over, after the dismissal of Ryan Young. While Caxeiro departed after scoring a well-played 40 off 32 deliveries, Ayob remained unbeaten on 32 off 29 balls.

Jeppe struggled to engineer partnerships of substance. Mkhize and Tiago Almeida got Jeppe underway with a 22-run opening stand, which was followed by Mkhize and Aiden Reyneke’s 30-run second-wicket partnership. Reyneke and Young then added 10 runs.

Herman Basson was the most successful bowler for St John’s with a tidy two wickets for 15 runs from four overs, while Alec Loveland and Nkosana Sibiya finished with a wicket each.

Scorecards

Jeppe High School for Boys 139/5 (Keegan Caxeiro 40, Munib Ayob 32*, Herman Basson 2/15, Alec Loveland 1/19) St John’s College 134/9 (Nkosana Sibiya 52, Ethan Robinson 19, Munib Ayob 2/21, Zizi Mkhize 2/21). Jeppe won by five runs.

CS Chiwanza
error: Sorry ol' chap, those shenanigans are not permissible.