Schmidt leads by example as Waterkloof edges out Grey College
Grey College came agonisingly close to capping off their Pretoria tour on a high note, narrowly failing to topple one of the capital’s cricketing heavyweights, Hoërskool Waterkloof, on their home ground, the André van der Walt Oval.
The hosts won the toss and elected to chase, fully aware that conditions typically favour the side batting second. That call ultimately proved decisive as Klofies snatched a hard-fought one-wicket victory over the visitors from Bloemfontein.
Just a day earlier, Grey College had been forced to dig deep to claim a three-wicket win over Pretoria Boys High on the Hofmeyr Oval.
When Grey found themselves under pressure in the early going, Daniel Hattingh and Juan Maree anchored the visitors’ innings. Both passed the 30-run mark, with Hattingh opting to go on the counter-attack, striking three sixes and two fours in a brisk 33 from just 21 deliveries. By contrast, Maree adopted a more measured approach, compiling 32 from 40 balls.
Their contributions, along with a useful 28 from Peter le Roux, lifted the visitors to 147 all out.
Johan Liebenberg was the standout with the ball for Waterkloof, snapping up 3/36 from six overs. His performance came as little surprise to those familiar with Liebenberg’s rise. In 2025, when he was 15 years old, he captured an extraordinary 99 wickets in 56 matches in that age group during the calendar year.
In Jano Venter, Grey found a bowler to lead their attack. He took the new ball and immediately made inroads into the Klofies’ formidable batting line-up. In just 4.2 overs, the hosts were left tottering on 5/4, with Venter in devastating form.
Captain Franco Schmidt then drew on his experience and joined forces with Johan Feuth, fresh off a century against Hoërskool Rustenburg the previous day, to stabilise the home side’s innings.
Together, they engineered a match-defining partnership of 65 runs before Feuth became Venter’s fourth victim. Schmidt pressed on, eventually departing for a resolute 57, though the contest remained finely balanced.
In the end, Rian Klopper held his nerve, contributing an unbeaten 21 to steer Klofies to a nail-biting one-wicket victory.
Despite a superb spell of 4/24 from Venter and Daniel Hattingh’s 2/6 from one over, Hoërskool Waterkloof did just enough to survive a stern examination.
Summarised scorecard
Grey College 147/10 (Daniel Hattingh 33, Juan Maree 32, Peter Le Roux 28; Johan Liebenberg 3/36, Juan Swart 2/5, Rivan Booysen 2/12); Waterkloof 152/9 (Franco Schmidt 57, Johan Feuth 29, Rian Klopper 21*; Jano Venter 4/24, Daniel Hattingh 2/6). Waterkloof won by one wicket.
