Saints comes out on top in clash of the titans
The Hart-Davis Oval hosted the Clash of the Titans as St Stihians College crossed swords with Hilton College on Day 2 of the Oppenheimer Michaelmas Week.
Saints won the toss and opted to use the early morning conditions to their advantage as they elected to bowl first.
Kwena Mphaka, Saints’ SA u19 representative, provided the early breakthrough, claiming a wicket off only the third ball of the game.
Matthew Stewart, however, stood his ground as the opening batter grafted for his 33 from 43 deliveries but was sent back to the pavilion by resilient and consistent bowling from the Saints’ attack.
The Hilton batters all got off to decent starts but struggled to convert to something bigger.
Nicholas Chantler (52, 84b) and Luke Watt (51, 48b) did the necessary repairs to the Hilton innings, both scoring impressive half-centuries, but unfortunately found no support lower down the order to kick on from the platform laid by the pair.
For the Saints’ it was Joshua Meyer who spearheaded the attack with a dominating outing of 3/33 in his outing with the ball. Together with Lhuan-dre Pretorius, showing his abilities with the ball, claiming 2/21 Hilton was restricted to only 211/9 in their allotted 50 overs.
Saints, being the happier of the two sides at the break, found themselves in a bit of a pickle early on at 21/3, chasing 212 required for victory.
Ross Boast proved to be the main threat with the ball in hand, baking up his dominant batting display from yesterday, walking away with decent figures of 2/48 in his spell for the day.
However, Chris Anderson and Richard Seletswane weren’t planning on falling short of the target. Anderson put together a wonderful batting performance of 76 and together with Seletswane’s impressive 58 not out, the pair guided Saints home to a comprehensive five-wicket victory over the home side.
Golstones, Maritzburg College’s revered field, proved to be a happy hunting ground for the men from Grey College as they too sailed to a comfortable five-wicket victory over the hosts.
Grey College won the toss and decided to have a bowl first.
At first, it seemed like Grey might have missed the plot a bit as Maritzburg started off their innings scoring relatively freely. Chad Mason got in amongst the runs for a second consecutive day with another well-played 59 from 91 deliveries.
He, however, seemed to be the only one with answers to a wonderful exhibition of leg-spin bowling from Juan Viljoen.
Viljoen turned heads as the leggie claimed four Maritzburg’s scalps for only 39 runs in his allotted ten overs. Sicelo Malayi also got in on the act with three wickets of his own, only conceding 32 runs.
Starts from Liam Armstrong (25, 30b) and Bryn Brokensha (22, 46b) helped Maritzburg avoid being bowled out for a very below-par score, as the hosts were rolled over for an already meagre score of 173.
Grey College didn’t hang about as they set off in search of the 174 required for victory. Adem Niewoudt let loose on the Maritzburg attack, breaking the backbone of the chase with an aggressive 54 from only 39 deliveries.
James Wiggil tried valiantly with the ball and bagged a few important wickets for College, but it wasn’t enough.
Together with Nieuwoudt contributions from Ruben Maree (41, 38b) and Samu Lephoto (32, 41b), meant that the team from Bloemfontein had no problem chasing down the score, romping to a second consecutive victory of the week.
St. David’s Marist Inanda recovered well from their loss yesterday to claim a convincing 87-run victory over Durban High School.
DHS won the toss and elected to put St. Davids in to bat first. The Durban-based side managed to make some early inroads through Mihir Bahari (3/48), but a fighting 39 from opening bat, Reece Reddy, quickly swung the momentum back in favour of St. Davids.
Reddy’s innings laid a solid platform for those to come, a platform Gomolemo Phiri put to great use. Phiri looked set for a big score from the get-go and, not long after, notched up the first century of the week as he made his way to a brilliant 109 from only 98 balls.
Phiri’s innings together with some valuable cameos down the order propelled St. David’s to a convincing 268/7 in their allotted 50 overs.
The DHS innings never seemed to get going as the Horseflies continued to lose wickets on a regular basis. Krian Jugoo seemed to be the only one hitting his straps, contributing a mature 60 from 77 balls. Ethan Cooper also settled down somewhat after an indifferent start, accumulating 32 of his own.
However, this was not enough as a dominant spell from Sam Wearne (4/39) and Matthew West (3/7) took the sting out of the Dhs chase, eventually restricting them to only 181 all out, claiming their first victory of the week.
Affies reigned superior against Northwood as they cruised to an 89-run victory in Richmond.
The Pretoria side won the toss and elected to bat first, looking to put Northwood under some scoreboard pressure.
However, after losing two quick wickets they reconsolidated with Divan de Villiers knuckling down for much much-needed 33 to recover from the early loss. But it was his partner, Ruben Groenewald, who stole the limelight. Groenewald started off slowly but systematically put his foot on the accelerator, scoring more freely.
After hitting his straps it didn’t take the top-order batter very long to notch up a magnificently structured century, scoring 103 from 113 deliveries, also helping his team cross the 250 mark, ending up on 257/10 in their 50 overs.
Northwood’s top order all managed to get off to good starts but just couldn’t convert. Thayin Kuppan was the pick of the Northwood batters contributing 24 from 33 balls.
However, it was the spin twins Petrus Rautenbach (3/35) and Jorich van Schalkwyk (3/29), who did the damage, claiming six wickets between them. The exhibition of spin by the duo from Affies proved to be too good as Northwood slumped to 168 all-out
Waterkloof had a disappointing outing against Kearsney College in their second game of the week.
Kearsney won the toss and elected to bowl first. It soon proved to be a fruitful one with the Klofies finding themselves in all sorts of trouble at 34/4 after just seven overs.
Sandiswa Yeni did the bulk of the damage with a brilliant performance of 6/40 in only eight overs.
Beukes van den Berg found himself among the runs again, playing a crafty innings of 43 in hopes of building a respectable first innings total. Riley Miller also contributed for a second time in a row with 31 from 32 balls, but it wasn’t enough and the Klofies were restricted to a sub-par 171 all-out.
Kearsney, however, had a field day on the baked-out, flatter second innings pitch.
Hayden Bishop showed his batting prowess at the top with a remarkable 72, not out, from 97 deliveries. Bishop’s strokeplay is probably what stood out the most throughout his innings.
Michael de Beer also cashed in on the batting-friendly conditions accumulating a well-played 52 not out. The pair’s 98-run partnership guided Kearsney to a thumping eight-wicket victory over the men from Pretoria.
Summarised Scorecards:
Hilton College 211/9 (Nicholas Chantler 53, Luke Watt 50, Matthew Stewart 33; Joshua Meyer 3/33, Lhuan-dre Pretorius 2/21); St Stithians College 212/5 (Chris Anderson 76, Richard Seletswane 58*; Ross Boast 2/48). St. Stithians won by five wickets.
Maritzburg College 173/10 (Chad Mason 59, Liam Armstrong 25, Bryn Brokensha 22; Juan Viljoen 4/39, Sicelo Malayi 3/32, Jonathan Miller 2/30); Grey College 177/5 (Adem Niewoudt 54, Ruben Maree 41, Samu Lephoto 32; Jams Wiggil 2/30, Chad Mason 2/48). Grey College won by five wickets.
St David’s Marist 268/7 (Gomolemo Phiri 109*, Reece Reddy 39, Morteza Manack 37, Kamagelo Phiri 28; Mihir Bahari 3/48); DHS 181/10 (Krian Jugoo 60, Ethan Cooper 32, Nkuleko Masondo 22; Sam Wearne 4/39, Matthew West 3/7, Kabir Bhattacharjee 2/42). St David’s Marist won by 87 runs.
Affies 257/10 (Ruben Groenwald 103, Vihan Pretorius 55, Divan de Villiers 33; Isaac Phiri 3/39, Kyle White 3/33, Harlee Jagga 2/31, Andrew Deeb 2/58); Northwood 168/10 (Thayin Kuppan 24, Mo Karodia 24, Evan Fouche 23, James Nielsen 20; Petrus Rautenbach 3/35, Jorich van Schalkwyk 3/29, Divan de Villiers 2/17). Affies won by 89 runs.
Waterkloof 171/10 (Beukes van den Berg 43, Riley Miller 31, Franco Cronje 26; Sandiswa Yeni 6/40, Hayden Bishop 2/17); Kearsney College 173/2 (Hayden Bishop 72*, Michael de Beer 52*; Khumo Thoaela 1/21). Kearsney College won by eight wickets.
- St Andrew’s School does it again! - 2025-01-19
- Rematch of Bloemfontein powers set to light up Potchefstroom - 2025-01-19
- Unbeaten Grey College into Schools SA20 semis in Potchefstroom - 2025-01-18
