St Charles overpowers Maritzburg College, DHS dumps Michaelhouse
St Charles College welcomed their neighbours Maritzburg College to the St Charles Oval on Saturday, but it wasn’t a particularly warm welcome as Saints dined out on the College bowling after winning the toss.
Every batsman, barring one who was not out at the end, reached double figures and three of them made fifties.
Thando Zama led the way with 60, which included six fours, while Brendon Sunguro, who has enjoyed an outstanding all-round season, contributed 54 from 64, despite striking only one four and one six. Opening batsman Cian Fortmann found the boundary seven times in his 53 from 62 balls.
Another useful contribution from Connor Riley, of 32, and 20 from Rico Honiball, helped Saints post a solid 273/6 on a big field. Ryan McKean picked up two wickets for College, finishing with 2/42 from eight overs, while Daniel Nadasan stemmed the flow of runs, snaring 1/26 in eight.
Maritzburg College made 189 all out in reply, but their scorecard made for some grim reading. Just four players made it into double figures. However, only captain Chad Mason made it beyond the teens. Without him, the Red, Black, and White wouldn’t have made 100. Thankfully for them, Mason continued his outstanding form, making 102 from 115 balls, with 12 fours and a six. But there was little support for him.
Sungoro laid waste to the College batting, snapping up 4/17 in six, while Connor Vogt sparkled with 3/30 from eight as Saints romped to a big 84-run win.
In Balgowan, Durban High School (DHS) continued to add to their impressive list of results with a commanding seven-wicket victory over Michaelhouse.
The home side batted first after winning the toss, but they were hamstrung by a failure to put any significant partnerships together. The best they mustered was 32 between Murray Hall-Jones and Ethan Muir for the fourth wicket and that wasn’t going to cut it against the committed batting of DHS.
Muir was ‘House’s top scorer with 35, which featured four fours, while Hall-Jones, with 21, was their next best.
Opening bowler Taine Havemann did a fine job, removing the top three in the Michaelhouse batting order, on his way to figures of 3/32 from 10. Dhilan Naraidu, who took the new ball with Havemann, turned the screws on the hosts, claiming a miserly 1/18 in 10.
SA u19 Emerging paceman Bayanda Majola was the seventh bowler used by School and he knocked over 2/16 in five to hasten Michaelhouse’s demise. They were restricted to only 164/9 from their 50 overs.
DHS lost a couple of wickets early on in their innings, but that brought captain Semal Pillay and Josh van Biljon together and they maturely wrestled control of the contest from Michaelhouse.
They delivered a partnership of 109 from 118 balls before Van Biljon was caught by Graydon Leslie off the bowling of Radhesh Jhilmeet for 55 from 68, which included nine fours. When he departed, the total was 145 and DHS needed only 20 more runs to win.
Pillay and Ethan Cooper, then, saw the Horseflies over the line, with Pillay finishing on 52 not out from 71 balls, with four fours, and Cooper unbeaten on nine.
The reliable and economical opening bowler Ross Moller claimed 2/18 in eight, but the ‘House attack didn’t have enough to defend and DHS won with a whopping 17.5 overs to spare.
Summarised scorecards
St Charles College 273/6 (Thando Zama 60, Brendon Sunguro 54, Cian Fortmann 53, Connor Riley 31, Ryan McKean 2/42); Maritzburg College 189/10 (Chad Mason 102, Brendon Sunguro 4/17, Connor Vogt 3/30)
St Charles College won by 84 runs.
Michaelhouse 164/9 (Ethan Muir 35, Murray Hall-Jones 21, Jared Havemann 3/32, Bayanda Majola 2/16); Durban High School 165/3 (Josh van Biljon 55, Semal Pillay 52*, Ross Moller 2/18)
DHS won by seven wickets.
