St Stithians win Coca-Cola Schools Challenge for the 4th time
Gauteng’s St. Stithians College has won the coveted Coca-Cola® Schools T20 Challenge for the 4th time by beating St. Charles College in an action-packed final match at the University of Pretoria on 17th March 2019.
St. Stithians won the toss and batted first, deciding that it would be better to post a total and rely on their bowlers to defend whatever they manage to score. It did not seem to help them much as they struggled to post a total losing wickets at frequent intervals managed to score 123/7 in their 20 overs thanks to Travis Ladner 41 and Sebastian de Oliviera 35.
Wesley Madhevere, the captain of St. Charles, once again led his team from the front. He took 2/19, ran out St. Stithians power hitter Liam McCarthy and caught Jodi de Sousa in helping his team to restrict St. Stithians to an attainable total.
St. Charles needed to bat rationally and take the game to St. Stithians to win the tournament. St. Stithians had the advantage of having won the competition before and knowing how to work well under pressure.
Man of the Match Liam McCarthy took 4/14, Tristan Brooks took 2/17 and Matthew Lieberman took 2/18 to restrict St Charles to 70 all out and win the match by 53 runs.
Puso Makume, Coca-Cola® Sponsorship Manager said, “Congratulations to all the participants of the 2019 Coca-Cola® Schools T20 Challenge National Finals, it was great to see how all the players gave their all this weekend!
A special congratulations to the Coca-Cola® All-Star team for winning their game against CSA Hub team. We look forward to next year’s breed to come out of Coca-Cola® Schools T20 Challenge and hope to see them on even bigger cricketing stages.”
Player Awards
Man of the Match at the final: Liam McCarthy from St. Stithians
Bowler of the tournament: Clive Madande from St. Charles
Batsman of the tournament: Cameron Rowe from St. Stithians
Player of the tournament: Wesley Madhevere from St. Charles
