Two-time champs, DHS, beaten twice on day one of Clifton T20
The unpredictability of the shorter format of the game revealed itself in Durban on Friday, the first day of the third annual Clifton T20 Tournament, where the two-time defending champion, Durban High School, suffered back-to-back defeats.
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In the morning, they went down to Glenwood High by 15 runs. Then, in the afternoon, Hoërskool Waterkloof avenged a loss to DHS in a group match on the opening day of the 2025 Clifton T20.
Only one other team, Maritzburg College, went winless in their two matches on the opening day. In the morning, they were well beaten by their Pietermaritzburg rival, St Charles College, and Westville Boys’ High also enjoyed much the better of their clash later in the day.
No team that played two matches won both. Waterkloof went down to Michaelhouse, while Westville tied with Northwood, who also cruised to a big win over St Charles.
Group A opened with Saints against College, and Thando Zama and company, after being sent in to bat at the Crusaders Club, posted a solid 159/8, with a second-wicket partnership of 78 from only 49 balls between Zama and Ryan Clarke being the primary driver of their innings.
At the death, Caleb Sharp and Lebo Mokoena combined for 37 runs, while Owen Widdows and Connor Simpson shared a 31-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Clarke, with 41, which included six fours, was the top scorer, while Zama cracked five fours in 37 from 25 deliveries, and Sharp played well to the long-off boundary in his 25 from 14.
Ethan Fabre, the seventh bowler used by College, nabbed 3/16 in three overs, while the skipper, Reece Willson, claimed 2/29 in three.
In reply, College put 16 runs on the board before losing their first wicket, but the run out of Kyle de Bruyn sparked a collapse, with the Red, Black, and White slipping from 16 without loss to 31/4.
Dax Jursa and Luca van der Merwe briefly slowed the St Charles attack, but four wickets then went down for only 10 runs, with Lebo Mokoena inflicting the most damage. He snared 3/8 in three overs to put the skids firmly beneath the College batting effort.
Needing 160 to win, the contest was almost done and dusted, with Maritzburg College on 68/8, but, with typical College fight, they made it to triple figures. However, when their tenth wicket went down on 109, St Charles had won by 50 runs to secure a bonus point victory.
Matters were far tighter between Westville and Northwood at the Riverside Sports Club, where Westville opted to bowl first. It was hard to criticise that decision when the Griffins limited the Knights to only 101/7 from their 20 overs.
A run a ball 23 not out from Hamza Amla, and 23 off 28 from David de Bruyn was the best that Northwood could muster, which was better than Westville did, with their captain, Kyle McGough, top scoring with only 19.
Still, it came down to the last ball, and Aarin Rasmussen scored two runs off James Searle to rescue a tie for his team, with Westville finishing on 101/8.
Left-arm spinner Ewan du Toit spun a web around Northwood, snapping up 3/13 in four overs, while McGough captured 2/10 in two.
James Searle claimed three for Northwood, conceding 20 runs from his four overs, while Hamza Amla took 2/17 in four.
Later, at DHS, the inconsistency of St Charles in 2026 was on show as Northwood cantered to a nine-wicket win, needing only 14.4 overs to overhaul the 112/8 put up by Saints.
That was the product of a poor start, with the Pietermaritzburg school crashing to 6/3 only seven balls into their innings, which included the run out of Joshua Nicholson for a duck.
Run outs were a theme of the day, with some poor running between the wickets and some good fielding resulting in 15 batsmen being run out in nine matches. That included Clifton College losing three of their top five in that manner against Hilton College, which ruined their run chase.
Hilton won the match because of their performances at the start of both innings. On the batting front, Hilton’s opening batsmen, Barack Munawa and captain, Rob Burman, also gave their side a superb start, putting on 104 in only 71 balls for the first wicket.
The Hilton opening pair was helped when Munawa was put down in the covers early in his innings, and he made Clifton pay, lashing five fours and two sixes in a 36-ball stay that brought him 55 runs. Burman led the way with 63 off 49, with seven fours and a six, as Hilton tallied 165/4.
Clifton did a good job of slowing Hilton down in the second half of their innings, with Hilton adding only 61 runs from their last 50 balls. Keegan Watson and Blake Johnson went at six runs per over, and both picked up a wicket, while leg-spinner Shiraz Perumal caused the batsmen some discomfort with his sharp turn and drift, but still went for 28 from his four overs.
Clifton’s disastrous running between the wickets left the hosts out of it on 18/5 after five overs. All credit to Hilton College, though. They had to make their opportunities count, and they did.
Their quicks, Sechaba Gude and Sange Qangule, also made good use of the short ball to force some skied shots out of the Clifton batsmen. Daniel Rea fought hard, cracking two fours and two sixes while scoring 29 off 19 balls, while Perumal weighed in with 23 off 28 before going for a big blast and being castled by Sean Burman.
Gude led the Hilton attack, capturing 4/23 in 3.4 overs, while Sean Burman bagged 2/19 in four, as Clifton was bowled out for 105.
Only one century was scored, and it went to Kearsney College‘s Asher Hollister, who slammed seven fours and six sixes in his unbeaten 106 off only 66 balls against St John’s College (Harare). He and captain Keegan de Jager shared an unbroken second-wicket stand of 179 off only 107 deliveries to propel the Botha’s Hill boys to 196/1, the biggest total of the day.
St John’s replied with a healthy 150/4 but still went down by 46 runs. James Manning launched an effective counterattack, clubbing 11 fours and three sixes in his 83 off 57 balls.
Perhaps the result of the day was Glenwood’s win over DHS because the Green Machine had been in indifferent form heading into the Clifton T20. Playing at Northwood, though, they scored a telling victory.
Led by Mishael Gunawardana‘s 46, they tallied 141/8 before restricting DHS to 126/6 in reply. The first five batsmen in the Horseflies‘ batting order made it into double figures, and two reached the twenties, but 28 by Mohammed Asmal was the best they mustered.
Crucially, only Taine Havermann, with 25 from 21 deliveries, with two fours and a six, bettered a run rate of 100.
Kamo Moloto hurt DHS with a superb return of 3/11 from three overs, while Qhamani Sikutshwa ratcheted up the pressure, with his tight four overs going for just 15 runs.
If there was a result that matched the impact of Glenwood’s win over DHS, it was Michaelhouse‘s comfortable 37-run victory over Waterkloof. Playing at DHS, Klofies won the toss and elected to field. Michaelhouse made them regret that choice.
Captain Graydon Leslie and Riley Muir got ‘House off to a flyer, racing to 47 in the fifth over before the skipper exited for 33 from only 16 balls. He had hit six of them for four. Muir went on to the innings’ top score of 47.
Critically, the openers were well supported. Ben Heuer chipped in with 26 from 17 balls before Thandanani Zuma and Victor North took it to Waterkloof with an unbroken seventh-wicket partnership that delivered 53 runs from the last four overs.
Zuma finished on 35 not out from 22 balls, while North blasted three fours and two sixes in his aggressive, unbeaten 30 from only 13 deliveries.
As they do, Waterkloof went hard from the start in an attempt to chase down a daunting target. They lost their openers cheaply, but their middle order stood firm, with Juan Swart taking only 13 balls to make 36. Eight of those deliveries went for boundaries, including one six.
Vorster de Villiers weighed in with 32, and Wian du Plessis contributed 25, but the Michaelhouse new ball pair, Thandanani Zuma and Rendani Nonge, kept picking up wickets to undermine the Waterkloof run chase. It lasted 17.4 overs before it was stopped on 154 all out.
Zuma captured 3/24 in 2.4 overs, while Nonge claimed 3/39 in four. Liam O’Dwyer, with 2/26, also played a key role in an important win for an in-form team.
Summarised scorecards
St Charles College 159/8 (Ryan Clarke 47, Thando Zama 37, Caleb Sharp; Ethan Fabre 3/16, Reece Willson 2/29); Maritzburg College 109/10 (Rory Schirge 41, Lebo Mokoena 3/8). St Charles won by 50 runs.
Glenwood High 141/8 (Mishael Gunawardana 42, Jonah Chita 23*, Akhil Sinath 20; Josh Morley 3/32, Matt Potgieter 2/22, Taine Havermann 2/33); Durban High School 126/6 (Mohammed Asmal 28, Taine Havermann 25; Kamo Moloto, Mishael Gunawardana 2/32). Glenwood won by 15 runs.
Northwood School 101/7 (David de Bruyn 21; Ewan du Toit 3/13, Kyle McGough 2/10); Westville Boys’ High 101/8 (Kyle McGough 19; James Searle 3/20, Hamza Amla 2/17). Match tied.
Michaelhouse 191/6 (Riley Muir 47, Thandanani Zuma 35*, Graydon Leslie 33, Ben Heuer 26; Johan Liebenberg 2/26); Hoërskool Waterkloof 154/10 (Juan Swart 36, Vorster de Villiers 32, Wian du Plessis 25; Thandanani Zuma 3/24, Rendani Nonge 3/39, Liam O’Dwyer 2/26). Michaelhouse won by 37 runs.
Hilton College 165/4 (Robert Burman 63, Barack Munawa 55; Blake Johnson 1/18); Clifton College 105/10 (Daniel Rea 29, Shiraz Perumal 23; Sechaba Gude 4/23, Sean Burman 2/19). Hilton won by 60 runs.
Kearsney College 196/1 (Asher Hollister 106*, Keegan de Jager 66*; Sean Reilly 1/24); St John’s College 150/4 (James Manning 83, Riley Ettlin 33, Luca Spagnuolo 28; Matthew Rice 1/12, Daniel Miskey 1/13). Kearsney won by 46 runs.
Westville Boys’ High 164/4 (Liam de Villiers 34*, Kyle McGough 34, Tristin Delvin 29, Aarin Rasmussen 25*; Ethan Fabre 1/16). Maritzburg College 123/10 (Reece Willson 22, Akhil Bharath 20; Ewan du Toit 2/13, Lwandle Bulose 2/16, Aarin Rasmussen 2/19). Westville won by 41 runs.
St Charles College 112/10 (Caleb Sharp 35, Christiaan Prinsloo 22; Ryan van Zyl 2/24); Northwood School 113/1 (David de Bruyn 56*, Ross McGlashan 35; Keegan Vermaak 1/14). Northwood won by nine wickets.
Durban High School 99/10 (Josh van Biljon 24, Mohammed Asmal 23; Christiaan Smit 3/7, Rivan Booysen 2/13); Waterkloof 103/5 (Johan Feuth 29*, Vorster de Villiers 26; Bonga Maphanga 2/28, Taine Havermann 2/22). Waterkloof won by five wickets.
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