Pretorius finishes on top, while St John’s College defiant with two victories
The Fasken Festival was another huge success this year, just showing that there is still room for more traditional formats to be played at school boy level and that red ball cricket remains the pinnacle for any young player coming through the ranks.
Lhuan-Dre Pretorius was named Player of the Festival for his impressive all round performances over the past four days. Bowler of the Festival went to Jeppes’ Sipho Potsane and Maritzburg College’s Caleb Thomas was named Batter of the Festival.
Saints number four Richard Seletswane scored a brilliant 108, to help extend the lead that already stood overnight.
With St Andrew’s staring down the barrel of a 155-run deficit, it was always going to be tough, but cometh the hour and yesterday’s hero with the bat Lhuan-Dre Pretorius showed his allround class, as he picked up 5/53 adding to his impressive 188 not out.
With only 51 runs needed to win the St Stithians top order made lightwork of the chase, ticking over the score to win by 9 wickets within 7.3 overs.
St John’s pushed hard for a well fought victory over Maritzburg College, winning by 3 wickets. Joe MacRobert converted his start into a 110 from 134 balls, which helped reduce the deficit to 49 runs.
However it was the bowlers that set-up the side on the path to victory, bowling out arguably one of the most inform top order batting line-ups in the festival. With inform openers falling early, captain Alec Loveland picked up 6/30 reducing Maritzburg to 118 all out, giving them a total of 167 to chase.
Macrobert started where he left off and scored 70 not out to see his side home for a very well played win, giving his side their second victory of the tournament.
Waterkloof finished on a high-note cruising to a 9 wicket win over Noordheuwel. Marcus Bakker bagged himself five sticks in the second innings to walk away with figures of 5/20 which helped set-up a small chase for the side from Pretoria. The all-rounder then scored at a strike-rate of 236.84, to help chase down the 77 runs which were needed. His knock didn’t include much running as scored 44 of his runs in boundaries.
Spinner Dian Winkel and opener Riley Norton bowled well for Paul Roos, picking up 4 wickets each in the second innings against Jeppe reducing them to 113 all out. This left the side from Stellenbosch with a 214 to chase, but none of the batsmen were able to get away, as Jeppe’s frontline spinner Sipho Potsane bowled with control and precision, picking up figures of 6/63 in the first innings and 3/46, which ended as the festivals best overall bowling figures in any of the matches.
The Lions Invitational XI put in a big performance in the second innings with Kyle Swanepoel notching up 103 not out from 95 balls, and partnered well with Professor Mkhwanazi who scored 75 not out from 80 balls.
Having declared it was all down to the bowlers, with the match going down to the wire. The side made up of boys from across Gauteng reduced St Davids to 184/9 with time quickly running out. Mashudu Khangala was the chief destroyer picking up 4/29, narrowly missing out on a fiver, with the match.
King Edaward VII, showed their aggressive nature with skipper declaring late on the first day leaving a slight deficit for his team and hoping to give his side a chance to bowl out Clifton cheaply on the second day. However this risk didn’t pay-off as Clifton College piled on the runs scoring 306/7 from 64.4 overs before sending in the opposition after a declaration. Cohen Naidoo scored 66 runs and Rivan Moodley scored 60 runs, while the other batsmen chipped in.
Callum Ritchie took 5/61 for KES, bowling with discipline and guise as he tried to make use of an aging wicket. The KES batsmen came out all guns blazing with Michael Holmes scoring a quick fire 47, along with Zieg Roos scoring 50 runs from 32 balls. This was not enough as there were just too many runs on the board to enforce a victory, thus the match played out to a draw.
Summarised Scorecards:
St Andrew’s College first innings: 226/10 from 56.1 overs (Schalk Liebenberg 73, André Du Preez 36, Extras: 19; Emile Odendaal 3/32, 2/26); St Stithians College first innings: 381/6 from 54 overs (Lhuan-Dre Pretorius 188, Richard Seletswane 108, Extras: 10; Dakalo Leketa 2/57); St Andrew’s College second innings: 206/10 from 39.5 overs (André Du Preez 82, Johan Liebenberg 26*, Extras: 15; Lhuan-Dre Pretorius 5/53, Pranav Raichetti 3/39); St Stithians College second innings: 52/1 from 7.3 overs (Pranav Raichetti 21*, Extras:5; Andrew Sobiech 1/12). St Stithians College won by nine wickets.
Maritzburg College first innings: 293/5 from 65 overs (Liam Armstrong 109, Caleb Thomas 64, Bryn Brokensha 50; David Ireland 2/58); St John’s College first innings: 244/10 from 62.3 overs (Joe MacRobert 110, Nkosana Sibiya 45; Oliver Dacosta 2/17); Maritzburg College second innings: 118/10 from 39.1 overs (Caleb Thomas 38, Extras:8; Alec Loveland 6/30, Malan Du Plessis 2/27); St John’s College second innings: 168/7 from 39.2 overs (Joe MacRobert 70*, Cole Francis 33; Chad Mason 4/46, Sphamandla Dzanibe 2/14). St John’s College won by three wickets.
Hoërskool Noordheuwel first innings: 199/10 from 36.4 overs (Dillon Potgieter 91, Brandon Pieters 30*; Tristan Luus 4/10); Hoërskool Waterkloof first innings: 226/10 from 43.5 overs (Beukes Van Den Berg 80, Marcus Bakker 36; Gomolemo Sibi 3/50, Corne Botha 2/26); Hoërskool Noordheuwel second innings: 102/10 from 14 overs (Ruan Strauss 43; Marcus Bakker 5/20, Alexander Volschenk 3/9); Hoërskool Waterkloof second innings: 78/1 from 8.3 overs (Marcus Bakker 45, Stephen Stoltz 20*; JJ Basson 1/14). Hoërskool Waterkloof won by nine wickets.
Jeppe High School for Boys first innings: 279/7 from 65 overs (Kai Van Aardt 90, Christopher Ellson 43, Extras: 14; Dian Winkel 3/67, Neil Barnard 2/40); Paul Roos Gimnasium first innings: 178/10 from 41 overs (William September 49, Josh Jordan 25; Sipho Potsane 6/63, Christopher Ellson 2/27); Jeppe High School for Boys second innings: 113/10 from 41.4 overs (Munib Ayob 20; Dian Winkel 4/20, Riley Norton 4/33); Paul Roos Gimnasium second innings: 152/6 from 48 overs (Liam Basson 43*, William September 29; Sipho Potsane 3/42). Match Drawn.
Lions Invitational XI first innings: 317/9 from 60 overs (Henricus Meyer 76, Joshua Mccoy 74, Professor Mkhwanazi 63, Extras: 13; Morteza Manack 4/49, Kabir Bhattacharjee 3/69); St David’s Marist first innings: 223/10 from 55.2 overs (Armaan Manack 55, Matthew West 43; Henricus Meyer 3/46, Mashudu Khangala 2/28) Lions Invitational XI second innings: 229/3 from 37 overs (Kyle Swanepoel 103*, Professor Mkhwanazi 75*; Jordan Abraham 1/35); St David’s Marist second innings: 184/9 from 57 overs (Gomolemo Phiri 78*, Matthew West 31, Extras: 24; Mashudu Khangala 4/29, Juan Minnaar 3/52). Match Drawn.
Clifton first innings 248/6 (Tim Saulez 95, Jayden Roux 87, Extras: 30; Kirstin Sabela 2/11, Michael Holmes 2/20); King Edward VII first innings: 217/4d (Callum Ritchie 84, Tiaan Goosen 47; Shahzaad Perumal 2/92); Clifton second innings 306/7 from 64.4 overs (Cohen Naidoo 66*, Rivan Moodley 60, Extras: 27; Callum Ritchie 5/61, Cameron Byrne 1/21); King Edward VII second innings: 243/5 from 49 overs (Eric Southey 52, Zieg Roos 50; Shahzaad Perumal 3/75). Match Drawn.
