St Andrew’s College and Selborne dominate Eastern Cape Schools SA20
St Andrew’s College and Selborne College overpowered their opposition on day one of the Eastern Cape leg of the Switch Schools SA20 Volume Two Phase Two matches on Friday.
Both sides finished the day at the summit of their respective pools. St Andrew’s leads Pool A, where they’re up against Alice RPC and Mqanduli Village, while Selborne is top of Pool B, facing Grey High and Nomandi.
St Andrew’s College
St Andrew’s dispatched Mqanduli and Alice with relative ease in two rain-interrupted matches at the Bohemians Oval. Their first port of call was an eight-wicket win over Mqanduli in a 12-over per side match.
Rhys Wiblin, the St Andrew’s College captain, won the toss and elected to bowl first. His attack responded well to their skipper’s show of faith and restricted Mqanduli to 47/6, before the College batsmen raced to 48/2 in seven overs.
Wiblin top-scored with an unbeaten 25 from 20 balls, and he received support from Thomas Lake, who tallied 12 from 15 balls. Akhumzi Ntleki was a shining light for Mqanduli, with an unbeaten 15 from 25 balls, while the rest of their batsmen perished for single-figure scores.
Later in the day, Connor Holder struck an unbeaten 91 from only 62 balls to set St Andrew’s up for a 15-run win over Alice. His half-century drove St Andrew’s to 133/4 in 18 overs. Alice was on 38/2 in reply when the rain stopped the match. That left them below Duckworth-Lewis-Stern par score.
Holder looked as if he was batting on a different surface because none of the batsmen on either side were able to record a strike rate of 100 or more. St Andrew’s College’s Ben Scharges, who scored the second-most runs in the match, managed 20 from 29 balls, while Alice’s Ambesa Linda was unbeaten on 18 from 22.
Selborne College
Cian O’Neil took centre stage as Selborne cantered to a six-wicket win over Grey High in a key showdown before thrashing Nomandi by 215 runs. Both matches were played at the Old Grey Sports Club.
When the toss went Selborne’s way, they bowled first in an 11-over per side contest. That was a good call. They limited the hosts to 68/4 before rocketing to 75/4 in 8.5 overs. O’Neil smashed 21 on only seven balls, while Thomas Lyon anchored the innings with an unbeaten 19 from 18 balls.
Later in the day, O’Neil retired out, after scoring a brisk 28-ball 62, to set Selborne up for a total of 243/7 against Nomandi. Avethandwa Manyongo and Matthew Hendry also had fun with the bat at Nomandi’s expense. Manyongo faced 23 balls for his unbeaten 45, while Hendry scored 43 from the same number of deliveries.
Nomandi’s run chase ended before it began. Thobela Sibonda scored a laboured 10 runs from 22 balls as they crumbled for only 28 from 13.1 overs. Aphelele Ruze, who scored five from 13 balls, was the second-highest scorer, but no other batsman made it to three runs.
O’Neil led the Selborne bowling attack with 3/5 in three overs. Afika Xuba snapped up 2/10, while Reid Drake, Titus Sweetnam, and Matthew Hendry took a wicket each.
Summarised Scorecards
St Andrew’s College 133/4 (Connor Holder 91*, Ben Scharges 20; Nonophelo Gidane 2/28, Y Makholiswa 1/27). Alice RPC 38/2 (Ambesa Linda 18*, Lithabo Gantsho 8; Oliver Whitaker 1/4, Thomas Bussiahn 0/15). St Andrew’s College won by 15 runs (DLS).
Selborne College 243/7 (Cian O’Neil 62, Avethandwa Manyongo 45*; Mosuli Nombida 2/45, Khulani Pikiso 1/35). Nomandi 28/10 (Thobela Sibonda 10, Aphelele Ruze 5; Cian O’Neil 3/5, Afika Xuba 2/10). Selborne won by 215 runs.
Mqanduli Village 26/10 (Sibahle Bango 7, Sinakekele Sele 5; Obakhe Memani 3/1, Logan Groch 3/2, Usman Niazi 3/2). Grey High 27/0 (Cullen Marais 13*, James Upton 9*). Grey High won by 10 wickets.
Mqanduli Village 47/6 (Akhumzi Ntleki 15*, Sibahle Bango 7; Oliver Whitaker 2/14, James Badenhorst 1/5). St Andrew’s College 48/2 (Rhys Wiblin 25*, Thomas Lake 12). St Andrew’s College won by eight wickets.
Grey High 68/4 (Cullen Marais 27*, Connor Parry 25; Rosh Els 2/8, Lwando Gwaza 1/18). Selborne College 75/4 (Cian O’Neil 21, Thomas Lyon 19*; Anfred Jansen 2/12, Obakhe Memani 1/13). Selborne College won by six wickets.
Alice RPC 84/3 (Awonke Ngini 37, Lithabo Gantsho 20; Thobela Sibonda 2/19, Khulani Pikiso 1/13). Nomandi 23/10 (Lizalise Rhadebe 5, Wanda Tenjwa 5; Nonophelo Gidane 3/1, Unakho Njalisa 2/2, Alungile Soga 2/3). Alice RPC won by 61 runs.
