17 September 2023
After travelling over 1 600 kilometres to Harare for the Saint John’s Rams T20, neighbours’ Kearsney College and Westville Boys’ High played their way into the final of the event on Sunday. Meanwhile, the third South African team in action, Clifton, found their form towards the end of the competition and finished with successive wins.
For those unfamiliar with the Saint John’s Rams T20, it has proved far from easy for South African teams to claim the title in Harare, so seeing two of them in the final was extremely unusual.
The toss
In the title-decider, on Sunday afternoon, Westville won the toss and elected to field, and were rewarded immediately when Hamza Mahomed trapped Dylan Wiggett in front with the first ball of the innings.
Then, in a well-paced partnership, Hayden Bishop and Cameron Veenstra stymied the Westville bowlers, both batting at about a run a ball, as they put on 65 runs for the second wicket before Veenstra was caught by Max Robinson off the bowling of Blake Simpson for 29, which included two fours and a six.
Bishop stayed around until the century had been reached, but he was then out for 38 from 37 balls, with three fours, with Robinson again pouching a catch, this time off left-arm spinner Aryan Gopalan. That brought Ross Coetzee to the crease, and he immediately set about the Westville attack.
A big boost
He lasted only 10 balls, but three of those were sent flying over the boundary. He also added a four to score a quickfire 27, which gave the Kearsney run rate a big boost.
Meanwhile, wicketkeeper Michael de Beer did his bit, making a telling contribution with the top score of 43 from 30, with four fours and a six. He was out in the 19th over, run out by Kaeden McAllister.
Adam Zeiler ended the innings unbeaten on 17 and Otsile Ntsele had two as Westville tallied a challenging 170 for 5.
Westville bowling
For Westville, Aryan Gopalan picked up two wickets, but he was a little expensive, going for 32 in two overs. Blake Simpson did a tidy job, however, claiming 1 for 21 in four.
In years past, there have been some massive totals in the tournament, but heading into the final, Westville’s 181 for 7 against Saint John’s was the highest total recorded throughout. That meant the Griffin, who needed to bat at just over 8.5 runs per over to win, faced a tough challenge.
They started confidently, though, but lost Aryan Gopalan with the total on 19 to the last ball of the second over, bowled by Ross Browning, for 11 from nine deliveries. His fellow opener Max Robinson followed with the total on 31, bowled by Sandiswa Yeni for eight from seven.
A blow
In a blow to their run chase, Westville then lost Kaedan McAllister to a superb catch by Dylan Wiggett at cow corner for three. It was a first wicket for Ross Coetzee, but there were more to come.
Nicandro Kistna managed only four before he, too, was out to the combination of Wiggett and Coetzee, which left Westville teetering on 71 for 4 after 9.4 overs. Seven runs later, they were 78 for 5, and their top scorer, Blake Simpson, was out, bowled by Coetzee for 42 from 31 balls, which included three fours and two sixes.
Having lost their top order, Westville struggled to speed up their run rate. Connor Jenkins and James Kruger, nonetheless, shared a stand of 26 before Kruger became the third victim of the Wiggett/Coetzee combination, out for 14.
Firm control
Jenkins was bowled by Hayden Bishop four runs later for 17. Kearsney had taken firm control of the contest with Westville reduced to 108 for 7 after 16.5 overs.
The eighth wicket, that of Roxton Payne, who was dismissed for nine, went down six balls after that, with Bishop taking a catch off of the bowling of Murray Weyer.
Sean McGough struck 13 from nine deliveries, but he was out one ball before the end of the innings. A leg bye off the last delivery took Westville to 135 for 9, leaving Kearsney the convincing winners by 35 runs.
Unbeaten
They had gone through the tournament unbeaten, recording two nine-wicket wins, two narrow victories over the hosts, both by five runs, and then the decisive win over Westville in the final. They had been the most consistent side on display, with a take-it-to-them approach to the game.
Westville’s challenge, meanwhile, had begun with a shocking setback when Wise Owls handed the Griffin a nine-wicket defeat in their first outing, but two wins on the trot put Westville into an eliminator against Peterhouse, and they cruised to a comprehensive win to qualify for the semi-finals.
There, they faced Wise Owls again. The second time around was very different to their first meeting, with Westville knocking over Wise Owls for just 61. After a six-wicket win, they were in the final.
Finding form
Clifton started slowly, taking some time to adjust to the pitches, and suffered defeats to Churchill and CBC Bulawayo. Then, they handed previously undefeated Peterhouse their first loss, which meant they would face Falcon College for seventh place on Sunday.
In their most convincing performance of the tournament, Clifton outplayed their opposition to register a six-wicket win with 7.3 overs to spare, with captain Camdeon Riley smashing three sixes in an unbeaten 35 off 18 balls to steer his side to victory.
RESULTS
POOL MATCHES
Westville 165 for 8 (N. Kistna 36*, C. Jenkins 36, , P. Gwatiringa 3 for 26, C. Takawira 2 for 20)
Wise Owls 166 for 1 off 18 (T. Makoni 75*, P. Gwatiringa 68*)
Wise Owls won by 9 wickets
Clifton 142 for 9 (T. Saulez 36, J. Rey 26, R. Simbi 3 for 17, Ben Zuze 3 for 22)
Churchill 143 for 6 in 19.3 overs (K. Muradzi 59, B. Zuze 45, J. Roux 1 for 14)
Churchill won by 4 wickets
Prince Edward 152 for 4 (R. Kamwemba 57, T. Banda 45*, D. Wiggett 1 for 15)
Kearsney 153 for 1 in 11.5 overs (H. Bishop 86*, D. Wiggett 35)
Kearsney won by 9 wickets
Lomagundi College 123 for 5 (P. Makunike 68, M. Weyer 2 for 18)
Kearsney 129 for 1 in 10.3 overs (J. O’Donovan 50*, C. Veenstra 50*, A. Zeiler 26)
Kearsney won by 9 wickets
CBC 125 for 7 in 15 (M. Chimusoro 31, S. Perumal 2 for 28)
Clifton 118 for 9 in 15 (J. Rey 40, J. Steyn 3 for 7, M. Chimusoro 3 for 14)
CBC won by 7 runs
Saint George’s 111 for 5 in 15 (T. Mangena 55*, T. Magaya 26, R. Payne 3 for 8, R. Pillay 2 for 8)
Westville 114 for 1 in 8.4 overs (A. Gopalan 64*, B. Simpson 43)
Westville won by 9 wickets
Peterhouse 154 for 2 (S. Bennett 64*, C. McMillan 55*, S. Perumal 1 for 14)
Clifton 155 for 5 in 19.2 overs (C. Riley 38, J. Roux 33*, B. McElligott 27, S. Bennett 2 for 19)
Clifton won by 5 wickets
Kearsney 181 for 7 (C. Veenstra 46*, M. de Beer 28, O. Ntsele 26, L. Mitchell 2 for 19)
Saint John’s 176 for 8 (C. Lovatt 53, L. Wright 24, M. Weyer 2 for 11)
Kearsney won by 5 runs
Westville 148 all out (A. Gopalan 65, T. Zimunhu 3 for 16, C. Mutandi 2 for 14)
Falcon College 127 for 8 (N. Hlabanga 35, R. Payne 3 for 25, Y. Khan 2 for 22)
Westville won by 21 runs
ELIMINATOR
Peterhouse 106 for 9 (S. Bennett 26, R. Midzi 23, H. Mahomed 3 for 25. R. Payne 2 for 9, B. Simpson 2 for 17)
Westville 112 for 1 in 14.3 overs (A. Gopalan 58*, M. Robinson 26, B. Simpson 23*)
Westville won by 9 wickets
SEMI-FINAL
Wise Owl 61 all out (T. Makoni 20, R. Payne 4 for 17, B. Simpson 2 for 14, S. McGough 2 for 17)
Westville 65 for 4 off 11.2 overs (K. McAllister24*, M. Mashava 3 for 11)
Westville won by 6 wickets
SEMI-FINAL
Kearsney 169 for 7 (D. Wiggett 45, C. Veenstra 34, H. Bishop 24. V. Chouhan 2 for 23)
St John’s 164 for 9 (K. Blignaut 54, L. Mitchell 25, J. O’Donovan 2 for 11)
Kearsney won by 5 runs
SEVENTH PLACE PLAYOFF
Falcon College 83 for 9 (H. Badat 2 for 12, S. Perumal 2 for 15, Z. Williamson 2 for 15)
Clifton 89 for 4 (C. Riley 35*, B. Williams 3 for 20)
Clifton won by six wickets
FINAL
Kearsney 170 for 5 (M. de Beer 43, H. Bishop 38. C. Veenstra 29, R. Coetzee 27, A. Gopalan 2 for 32)
Westville 135 for 9 (B. Simpson 42, R. Coetzee 4 for 26, M. Weyer 2 for 12)
Kearsney won by 35 runs
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