Northwood beats Michaelhouse despite Heuer’s brilliance
Northwood inflicted a 10-run defeat on Michaelhouse in a low-scoring match on the Robin Smith Oval in Durban on Saturday.
Michaelhouse, who were hugely impressive during the Oppenheimer Michaelmas Cricket Week, winning all four of their matches, have seen their fortunes nose-dive in recent weeks and they were, once again, on the wrong end of the result, albeit that it was a narrow loss.
‘House won the toss and opted to field first in the 40 overs a side contest, and that decision paid early dividends as Northwood laboured to 20/4 after 11 overs.
Ben Heuer was the architect of their miserable start, snapping up three of the first four wickets to go down – removing David de Bruyn for four, Ross McGlashan for a duck, and Josh Mills for one. Rendani Nonge accounted for the hard-hitting Jamie Wimble, sending him packing without scoring.
Northwood finally found some traction when Luc Boyall joined Thomas Oosthuizen, who had stood firm since the first wicket went down. Together, they added 64 runs for the fifth wicket before Oosthuizen was bowled by Liam O’Dwyer for 52, the highest score of the match. He spent 70 balls at the crease and struck four fours.
Boyall exited nine runs later for 26, Heuer’s fourth victim, which left Northwood on 93/6 in the 30th over.
The remaining batsmen added another 31 runs, with the best of them, Hamza Amla, making 11, as Northwood was bowled out one ball before completing their 40 overs for 124.
Heuer was superb for Michaelhouse, knocking over 4/11 in eight overs, while Radhesh Jhilmeet, who prevented the Knights‘ tail from wagging, snagged 3/22 in 4.5.
Rendani Nonge gave little away, claiming a tidy 1/20 from his eight overs, and Liam O’Dwyer kept the pressure on the home team’s batsmen with his return of 1/19 from seven.
Like Northwood, Michaelhouse also lost their first four wickets cheaply. They fared slightly better than the hosts, making it to 32/4 in the ninth over of their reply, with Ryan van Zyl getting rid of the top four batsmen in the order – Rex Wardlaw for a duck, Ethan Muir for 13, Graydon Leslie for seven, and Hayden Hewlett for three.
Then, much like Northwood, ‘House stopped the rot with a solid fifth-wicket partnership. Ben Heuer and Cody Sander stood firm for 14.4 overs and advanced the total by 55 runs before Sander was caught and bowled by Max Nicholson for a stubborn 20 from 54 deliveries.
Heuer, Michaelhouse’s bowling hero, was also their best batsman, but when he fell for 47, scored at just less than a run a ball, with seven fours and a six, the end came quickly.
He was out to the first ball of the 30th over, which left Michaelhouse on 110/7, still 15 runs short of victory. Ten balls later, it was all over, with the visitors dismissed for 114 in the 31st over.
Ryan van Zyl added the wicket of Radhesh Jhilmeet to the four he had taken earlier to finish with an outstanding 5/28 from eight overs, while Max Nicholson ended with 2/26 from five, removing Michaelhouse’s two highest scorers, Ben Heuer and Cody Sander.
Josh Mills didn’t take a wicket, but he played an influential part in the visitors’ downfall, conceding only seven runs from his six overs to heavily ratchet up the pressure on the visitors.
Summarised scorecard
Northwood 124/10 (Thomas Oosthuizen 52, Luc Boyall 26; Ben Heuer 4/11, Radhesh Jhilmeet 3/22); Michaelhouse 114/10 (Ben Heuer 47, Cody Sander 20; Ryan van Zyl 5/28, Max Nicholson 2/26). Northwood won by 10 runs.
