Wynberg edges out Pretoria Boys High by only two runs
Wynberg Boys’ High faced Pretoria Boys High in the South African capital city over 20 overs on Wednesday in preparation for the Wildeklawer T20, which starts on Thursday.
The hosts won the toss on Hofmeyr Oval and elected to field first.
Wynberg responded with a solid batting display, but it was the tenacity of their bowling attack which won them the match by a mere two runs.
Muhammad Ameen Schroeder and Storme van Rooyen shared an opening partnership of 49 runs to give the Cape Town school a solid start. Both faced 31 deliveries, with Schroeder scoring 24 runs and Van Rooyen contributing 35.
However, after the opening pair, only Joshua Prince and Michail Tarentaal, batting third and fourth in the order, reached double figures.
Prince’s innings was a quickfire 16 off nine, with two fours, while Tarentaal smashed the only six of the innings, which also included three fours, as he weighed in with 32 off 20.
At one point, the southern suburbs outfit looked comfortable at 90/3, but they collapsed to 127/8, eventually going on to tally 139/8 after their 20 overs.
Jaydon Knott-Craig’s 3/19 in four overs led the Pretoria Boys High attack, with all three of his victims being top order batsmen, which allowed his fellow bowlers to get stuck into the remaining batsmen.
Needing seven runs an over to win, opening batsmen, Ethan Nel and Timothy Gordon, gave Boys High a similar start to their Wynberg counterparts, putting up 51 runs for the first wicket, Nel knocked 25 off 21, with three fours, while Gordon hit 42 off 33, thumping two sixes and three fours.
Later in the innings, Louis Kruyshaar scored an unbeaten 22 off 29, but Wynberg held on for a tight victory. Fawaaz Hendricks was the most clinical of their bowlers, returning a tidy 2/20 in four overs.
In the end, the hosts were restricted to 137/5 after their 20 overs, with both of their last two batsmen facing over 20 deliveries but being limited to strike rates under 80.
Pretoria Boys High will look back on the game and wonder, with so many wickets in hand, whether or not they could have gone harder at the Wynberg bowlers earlier in their innings.
SCORES
Wynberg Boys’ High 139/8 (Storme van Rooyen 35, Michail Tarentaal 32, Muhammad Ameen Schroeder 24; Jaydon Knott-Craig 3/19, Ruan Coetzee 2/37); Pretoria Boys High 137/5 (Timothy Gordon 42, Ethan Nel 25, Louis Kruyshaar 22*, Extras 21; Fawaaz Hendricks 2/20).
Wynberg won by two runs.
