Varday’s fiver in vain as Kearsney College clinch KZN T20-final
After two days of exciting T20 cricket hosted at the beautiful Kearsney College the hosts emerged victorious and were named champions of the coastal school’s section.
With all to play for the Kearsney won the toss and decided to bat first, realising that scoreboard pressure could play a pivotal role for the chasing side. Having batted first in both the quarters and the semis the team would have felt confident with setting-up a competitive score to defend.
The side started off well going at close to 9 an over. Opener Louis Nel fell early on for 4 from 11 balls, whereas opening partner Jared Uys played a commanding innings of 50 from 32 balls which gave the middle-order a platform to build on. On his way to 50, he hit nine boundaries which included some sweetly timed cover drives.
Dylan Hullet came in and looked dangerous from the outset, scoring at a rate of 176, he ended his innings on 30 from 17 balls which included three sixes. Batting with skipper Cade Carmichael the two Kearsney batsmen looked to taking apart the Clifton attack as they put together a 36-run partnership.
After Hullet fell to the bowling of Romashan Pillay, Carmichael decided it was time to capitalise on the strong foundation as he went into overdrive as he brought up his second half-century off just 25 balls which included four large sixes. His destructive boundary hitting rests on his strength of being able to clear the boundary with his powerful slog sweeps which even Jonty Rhodes would be proud of.
Ronan Varaday, however, ended Carmichael’s parade as he had him caught by Montgomery out in the deep as Carmichael looked to clear the rope. Varaday then picked up several quick middle-order wickets where he bagged five for two runs in the space of 12 balls. He ended up as the pick of the bowlers picking up overall figures of 5/13 from his four overs.
The skiddy pacer bowled well at a period where it looked as if Kearsney would get to a score well above two hundred. The spell ended with Varaday bowling full and straight where he had the stumps castling over to pick up five on his last ball.
At the half-way stage with the surface looking like a good batting wicket in the first innings, Clifton would have felt that they were in with a sniff. Clifton needing to go at over 8.5 runs to the over from the start was put under pressure as Kearsney opening bowlers Dean Gibbs and Matthew Murray bowled disciplined lines, Murray ended the innings with figures of 1/18 from 3 overs.
Opener Ross Montgomery struck three boundaries in a knock of 25 runs from 22 balls. The rest of the batsmen made starts but could not carry on in the same destructive manner as the Kearsney batsmen had done earlier in the day.
The only batsmen to go at a strike rate of more than 150 was Teagan Ridgeway. who ended on 49 not out off 32 balls which included six fours and one maximum. He was well supported by Romashan Pillay who looked at rotating the strike in order to get back on strike before he was dismissed leg- wicket by Carmichael for 20 runs from 19 balls.
This, however, was not enough as Clifton fell short by 25 runs.
Summarised Scorecard:
Kearsney College 174 all-out after 19.4 overs (Cade Carmichael 50 (25b), J.Uys 50 (32b), Ronan Vardaya 5/13, N.Jeewa 1/8), Clifton 149/6 after 20 overs (Teagan Ridgeway 49* (32b), Ross Montgomery 25 (22b), Cade Carmichael 1/27, L.Gwarube 1/10). Kearsney College win by 25 runs.
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