White’s captain’s innings lifts Northwood to win over Clifton
Northwood School made the short trip to the Riverside Sports Club on Tuesday for a W100 showdown with Clifton College. An exciting back-and-forth contest eventually came down to the last ball, with the Knights clinching a six-wicket victory after their captain Kyle White struck it for four.
It was a match that could have gone either way, with both sides guilty of a misfield or two and a dropped catch each.
Clifton skipper Tim Saulez won the coin flip and chose to bat first. Northwood, though, made a good start.
They had both openers, Byron Ward and Hayden Drieselmann out by the time Clifton had 18 runs on the board, and Saulez followed for 17 soon after. He had earlier executed a paddle cleanly around the corner for four, but was trapped in front when he tried the same shot to the first ball bowled by Ben Cilliers.
Zach Williamson and Cristiano Borrageiro, then, put a stop to Northwood’s success for a good while. In 65 balls, they advanced Clifton’s score by 85 runs before Borrageiro was caught by Ross McGlashan off the bowling of Luke Allen. He had faced 33 balls and made 29 runs.
Williamson went on to finish with an unbeaten 41 from 37, with three fours and one towering six over long-on, as Clifton posted 120/4.
Allen led the Knights’ attack, with 2/21 from 20 balls, while Jordan Matthews and Ben Cilliers picked up a wicket each.
The visitors were rocked when they lost David de Bruyn to the first ball of their innings, caught behind by wicketkeeper Lawson Dinsdale after he flashed at a wide delivery from Tim Saulez.
Ross McGlashan should have been caught off Regan Radley, but the fielder, inexplicably, misjudged a simple chance. McGlashan, though, didn’t last much longer. He was jammed by Radley while trying to pull a short ball and Gabriel Vermeulen pouched the catch.
McGlashan’s departure, for five, brought Northwood captain Kyle White to the wicket and he proceeded to take charge, playing a responsible but aggressive innings to haul his side back into the contest. At the other end, Tuswa Phetha kept it simple and rotated the strike.
When McGlashan was removed, the Knights were on 23/2 after 24 balls, but Phetha and White edged them in front of the required run rate by adding 78 from 59 deliveries before Phetha was caught by Muhammed Malek off Shiraz Perumal for 32 from 41.
Northwood was on 101/3 after 82 balls and appeared on course for victory.
Clifton, though, slowed them down. Their tall left-arm spinner, Blake Johnson, bowled a superb five-ball over, conceding only three runs, which left Northwood needing 12 to win off 10. They got seven of those off Tim Saulez, including a vital four from Alistair Duncan.
In the last over, Radley, who did a good job under heavy pressure, conceded three runs from his first four deliveries. The other brought a leg bye. Then, on the last ball, with the field in and the scores level, White got it past the tight ring and to the boundary to win it for his side.
His superb innings was the difference between victory and defeat. In 41 balls, he hit five fours and two sixes and finished on a match-winning 55 not out.
Tim Saulez claimed 1/19 from 20, Regan Radley 1/20 from 20, and Blake Johnson 0/19 from 20.
Scores
Clifton College 120/4 (Zach Williamson 41* Cristiano Borrageiro 29, Luke Allen 2/21); Northwood School 124/4 (Kyle White 55*, Tuswa Phetha 32, Tim Saulez 1/19). Northwood won by 6 wickets.
