Pretorius dominates day with explosive batting
St Stithians College left-handed batsman Lhuan-Dre Pretorius made use of the flat winter tracks on offer and climbed into the St Andrew’s bowling as he helped himself to an excellent ton.
The stylish South African u19 batsmen reached the milestone in spectacular fashion, by dispatching a ball for six and also making it 22 runs from the 23rd over. He ended on 188 runs from 138 balls and looked like scoring the first Fasken double-century.
The Fasken Festival has not disappointed with action-packed days as the batsmen have made good use of their times at the crease and capitalizing on drier wickets which have not offered much to the dismay of the fast bowlers.
Liam Armstrong carried on with his magnificent form as he notched up a brilliant second hundred for the festival. The opener ended on 109 from 173 balls, demonstrating his ability to shift gears, a stark difference from his first hundred on Thursday. Ultimately putting Maritzburg College in another strong position.
A third hundred partnership with fellow opener Caleb Thomas has shown the class of these two young players and their understanding of one another’s games. Dare I say it but it will be on everyone’s minds; can they make it four from four?
Noordheuwel struggled to keep up with Waterkloof’s speedster Tristan Luus, who bowled with pace and aggression picking up 4/10 picking up wickets at different stages of the innings; his third wicket was the crucial wicket of Dillon Potgieter, who blasted his way to 91 from 65 balls which included 10 fours and 5 sixes.
The side from Krugersdorp found themselves batting on day one again after bowling Waterkloof out for 226 but lofted four wickets before the close of play leaving them with a 24-run lead. Alexander Volschenk picked up two wickets to leave the side struggling at 51/4.
Jeppe’s Kai Van Aardt joined Potgieter by falling ten runs short of what would have been a well-played hundred, ending on 90 from 94 balls. Jepped batted out their 65 overs in the first innings to reach 279/7. Paul Roos found themselves losing several wickets after batters made starts but did not kick on.
The Lions Invitational side put 317/9 on the board. St David’s bowler Morteza Manack was the standout bowler for the day picking up 4/49.
Lions all-rounder Henricus Meyer having a good day with both bat and ball. First scoring 76 from 72 balls, which was followed up with 3/46 with the ball in hand, including a big breakthrough of St David’s Matthew West.
Spin has been a major component for teams which has allowed teams to get overs in quickly during the innings, with several notable bowling performances coming in from spinners across all of the matches. It will be interesting to see how the wickets behave on the final day as they have seen plenty of cricket over the last three days.
Round 2 Day 1 Scores:
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 first Innings: 136/6 from 41 overs (William September 49, Josh Jordan 25, Extras:3; Christopher Ellson 2/27, Sipho Potsane 2/46) Paul Roos trail by 143 runs.
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 first Innings: 187/7 from 46 overs (Armaan Manack 55, Matthew West 43, Extras: 18; Henricus Meyer 3/46. St David’s trail by 130 runs.
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: 298/3 from 54 overs (Lhuan-Dre Pretorius 188, Richard Seletswane 85*, Extras: 9; Dakalo Leketa 2/55) St Stithians College lead by 72 runs.
Maritzburg College first Innings: 293/5 from 65 overs (Liam Armstrong 109, Caleb Thomas 64, Bryn Brokensha 50, Extras: 18; David Ireland 2/58); St John’s College first Innings: 174/3 from 51 overs (Joe Macrobert 61*, Nkosana B Sibiya 45, Extras: 15; Oliver Dacosta 2/17) St John’s trail by 119 runs.
Hoërskool Noordheuwel first Innings: 199/10 from 36.4 overs (Dillon Potgieter 91, Brandon Pieters 30*, Extras: 18; Tristan Luus 4/10, 2/45); Hoërskool Waterkloof first Innings: 226/10 from 43.5 overs (Beukes Van Den Berg 80, Marcus Bakker 36, Extras: 19; Gomolemo Sibi 3/50, Corne Botha 2/26); Hoërskool Noordheuwel second Innings: 51/4 from 14 overs (Ruan Strauss 14*, Tidi Moeketsane 12*, Extras:10; Alexander Volschenk 2/6) Hoërskool Noordheuwel lead by 24 runs.
