13 September 2023
Maritzburg College faced off against Westville Boys’ High on Wednesday evening in the playoff for third place in the 2023 One Insurance Eston Schools T20 Night League. The bowlers held the edge in a contest that begged for one batsman to take charge of the game, but that didn’t happen.
College won the toss and opted to bat first and, with Oliver Da Costa pushed up to the top of the order, they got off to a flyer. Caleb Thomas took an early liking to the bowling of Sean McGough, who was guilty of bowling on both sides of the wicket, and Da Costa went after left-arm spinner, Roxton Payne.
Da Costa and Thomas quickly took the score to 44 before Thomas was dismissed for 22 from 11 balls, which included five fours, at the start of the fourth over.
It was the introduction of the left-arm spinner Roxton Payne which brought about the breakthrough, and it was timely. Westville desperately needed a wicket to stem the flow of runs, and it did exactly that.
Asanda Khumalo contributed just one before he was clean bowled by a superb delivery from Romashan Pillay.
Highest College score
Da Costa then went after Payne and, together with College skipper Bryn Brokensha, moved the score along to 64 before Da Costa was dismissed in the seventh over, bowled by a beautiful looping delivery from the left-arm spinner Aryan Gopalan for 35 from 16 deliveries. His knock, the highest in the Maritzburg innings, included five fours and two sixes.
Brokensha found himself unusually tied down, he but made 10 runs from 24 deliveries before snicking one from Yaseen Khan and being caught behind.
Further down the order, Sphamandla Dzanibe played a crucial innings, striking three fours in his 24 from 22, to give Maritzburg College’s effort a sturdier look and some momentum.
The lower order kept the scoreboard ticking over, despite the regular loss of wickets, which helped College to 137 for 9 in their 20 overs. It looked a little bit light, but it proved to be a good total to defend.
Outstanding bowling
There were some outstanding bowling returns for Westville. Romashan Pillay led the way, snapping up 3 for 10 in his three overs, which included the last, while Aryan Gopalan weighed in with 2 for 11 from three with his impressive spin.
His fellow left-arm spinner, Yaseen Khan, returned figures of 1 for 14 from three, and Kaedon McAllister picked up 1 for 7 in two. Add it all up and their combined return was 7 for 42 in 11 overs.
Westville started their run chase with Seth Simpson striking a stunning cover drive for four off of Brokensha, but the Maritzburg captain then forced the opener to pop a simple catch back to him and College had their first wicket with only five runs on the board.
Gopalan then smashed a six and a four off of the bowling of Da Costa. But the bowler had the last laugh when he had Gopalan caught for 10 by James Wiggill.
Fine innings
South Africa under-19 star, Romashan Pillay, set about repairing the damage and did a fine job, playing some cracking drives and displaying nifty footwork to paddle leg spinner Chad Mason around the corner for a couple of boundaries. College, though, were exerting strong pressure on the Griffins.
In the 10th over, one of the decisive moments of the clash occurred when Pillay was run out. He and Kaedon McAllister nearly collided going for a second run and the slight sidestep Pillay had to take was the difference as a good throw beat him before he had reached the crease. He was out for the top score of the match, 44, which came from 36 deliveries and included seven fours.
In a blow to the Westville cause, McAllister departed for seven without a run being added, the victim of a superb delivery from Brokensha, with the scoreboard now reading 68 for 4.
Sean McGough and Connor Jenkins ran well between the wickets to advance the score to 89, which is when McGough was LBW to Chad Mason for nine.
Good bowling and fielding
Westville managed a 21-run partnership for the sixth wicket, but it took 19 balls and at that stage of the innings they needed to accelerate the scoring. It was more a case of good bowling and fielding than one of the batsman not delivering.
By that time, though, with 20 balls remaining, and Westville needing 28 to win on a pitch that had proved more challenging than it appeared to be, the contest had swung in College’s favour. Six balls later, they had their seventh wicket, when Bryn Brokensha bowled Roxton Payne for two.
Then, a devastating blow for Westville. Asanda Khumalo was bowling to Yaseen Khan. He fired in an attempted yorker, which the batsman dug out. The ball bounced up high off of the pitch and Khumalo stuck out his right hand to field it. Not quite timing it right, the ball was deflected and struck the stumps behind him. Hamza Mohamed, who was backing up, was run out.
With just one more wicket in hand, Westville added a further six runs, but they came up eight runs short, finishing their 20 overs on 129 for 9.
Like his Westville counterpart, Romashan Pillay, College captain Bryn Brokensha led his team’s bowling attack, capturing 3 for 21 in four overs. Khumalo picked up 2 for 27 in three, while Da Costa’s 1 for 21 in four helped to heap pressure on the opposition’s run chase.
Michael Gibson, with 0 for 10 in two, and Sphamandla Dzanibe, with 0 for 3 in one over, at a time when Westville were desperate to increase the run rate, also played important roles in the Maritzburg College victory.
SCORES
Maritzburg College 137 for 9 (O. Da Costa 35, S. Dzanibe 24, C. Thomas 22, R. Pillay 3 for 10, A. Gopalan 2 for 11)
Westville 129 for 9 (R. Pillay 44, B. Brokensha 3 for 21, A. Khumalo 2 for 27)
Maritzburg College won by 8 runs
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