28 January 2025
CRICKET
Although they were short of match practice, DHS was favoured to beat a young Kearsney 1st XI, containing a grade 9 learner and four grade 10s, on the AH Smith Oval on Saturday. Instead, Kearsney pulled off a shock 32-run upset.
That grade 9 learner, Asher Hollister, who played for the u14A team in 2024, was one of the big reasons for Kearsney’s win, and that was in the face of some outstanding fast bowling from School’s Bayanda Majola and Taine Havermann.
Majola, who was unable to bowl against Northwood last weekend while working his way back to fitness from a groin injury, came on as the first change bowler and generated very good pace. It brought him an excellent return of 5/25 from 10 overs.
Havermann, meanwhile, took the new ball and performed well, capturing 4/40 from his 10 overs, including the wicket of Hollister. By then, though, the youngest player on the field had scored an impressive 54 from 89 balls, which would prove to be the highest score of the match by 20 runs. He struck five fours and a six.
He was even prepared to pull SA u19 Emerging speedster, Majola. His courage and mental strength to take on each ball on its merits was impressive.
Rivan Moodley, who opened the batting with captain Jason De Gryse, made a crucial contribution, scoring 34 from 49 balls, with four fours. Later, Aaron Blackburn produced another key innings, chipping in with 29.
After 45 overs, Kearsney was all out for 166.
DHS was rocked in the first over of their reply when Litha Gonya got rid of Ismaeel Omar, one of School‘s key batsmen.
Akthar Basha and Taine Havermann settled things down for the visitors, though, making 45 for the second wicket before Havermann was bowled by Daniel Miskey for 26.
That brought the dangerman, Josh van Biljon, to the crease. He brought some security to one end of the pitch, but at the other end he had to watch batsmen come and go, including Basha for 21. Still, with Van Biljon in the middle, DHS was in with a shout.
Matthew Gorrie struck a huge blow from Kearsney, however, when he bowled Van Biljon for 21 with a peach of a delivery. That reduced DHS to 92/7, leaving them with a mountain to climb if they were to win.
Dhilan Naraidu battled hard, making 19, and DHS squeezed 42 runs out of the last three wickets, but Bonga Maphanga ended the contest with the first ball of the 46th over when he bowled Ethan Jenkins. DHS was dismissed for 134.
Leg-spinner, Rivan Moodley, did a good all-round job with the ball, picking up wickets and stemming the flow of runs, to snare 3/24 from his 10 overs. Daniel Miskey’s 2/14 off five was a key contribution, and Bonga Maphanga nabbed a tidy 2/20 off 8.1.
Scores
Kearsney College 166/10 (Asher Hollister 54, Rivan Moodley 34, Aaron Blackburn 29, Bayanda Majola 5/25, Taine Havermann 4/40); Durban High School 134/10 (Taine Havermann 26, Joshua van Biljon 21, Akthar Basha 21, Rivan Moodley 3/24, Daniel Miskey, Bonga Maphanga 2/20). Kearsney College won by 32 runs.
In other matches, the results were almost evenly split. They went the way of Kearsney in the open age group, DHS was on top in the u16 and u15 games, and Kearsney won three of the four u14 contests.
RESULTS
2nd XI
DHS 60/10
Kearsney 61/0
Kearsney won by 10 wickets
3rd XI
Kearsney 103/0
DHS 101/5
Kearsney won by two runs
u16A
Kearsney 117/8
DHS 118/4
DHS won by 6 wickets
u16B
DHS 172/6
Kearsney 93/9
DHS won by 79 runs
u15A
Kearsney 168/10
DHS 171/5
DHS won by 5 wickets
u15B
Kearsney 73/10
DHS 76/4
DHS won by 6 wickets
u14A
DHS 123/10
Kearsney 125/3
Kearsney won by 7 wickets
u14B
DHS 133/9
Kearsney 134/7
Kearsney won by 3 wickets
u14C
DHS 112/5
Kearsney 113/7
Kearsney won by 3 wickets
u14D
Kearsney 47/8
DHS 49/0
DHS won by 10 wickets
WATER POLO
The Kearsney 1st water polo team made it 24 wins on the trot with an impressive 16-7 defeat of a solid DHS team on Saturday in Botha’s Hill. It was a step up in performance from Kearsney, who were pushed hard by Michaelhouse last weekend in their first outing.
Coach Nicholas Rodda‘s side is battle-hardened, skilful, and experienced, but still young. They’ve played a lot of water polo together. That told in their win over the Horseflies.
Goals flew from the first whistle, resulting in Kearsney leading 7-3 after the first chukka. Matters tightened up through the next two chukkas, but Kearsney kept edging further ahead. They led 11-6 at the half and 14-6 after the third chukka.
Levi Thom was one of the host’s leading goal scorers, while Luca Sandri was on the score sheet and, also, contributed a number of assists. Thomas Aylward, as always, was a rock-solid presence and, also, excelled from the penalty spot.
After winning the St Stithians Water Polo Invitational at the end of 2024, which brought together many of the leading 1st teams of 2025, Kearsney will be keen to press on. Some tough tests await them.
Hilton College, although a little inconsistent – they have a new but outstanding coach in Paul Martin, formerly of Clifton, so they might take a little time to adapt their game to his way – scored some eye-opening wins over top teams at the SAC Shield in Makhanda, while Rondebosch Boys’ High, who won the event, made their case as the team to beat this year. Kearsney will be eager to challenge that narrative.
RESULTS
1st: Kearsney 16-7 DHS
2nd: Kearsney 11-4 DHS
16A: Kearsney 15-1 DHS
15A: Kearsney 14-3 DHS
15B: Kearsney 17-0 DHS
14A: Kearsney 18-0 DHS
14B: Kearsney 13-3 DHS
BASKETBALL
While results on the basketball court generally favoured Kearsney, DHS claimed victory in the match-up of the 1st teams, winning comfortably by 16 points.
Throughout the years, in different age groups, the DHS team that played on Saturday at the SportZone had got the better of Kearsney, but the home side was keen to have another crack at School.
They started strongly and snatched a five-point lead, but DHS got down to ruggedly defending their basket. They’ve got some size and are physical and that enabled them to turn things around. After the first quarter, the visitors led 17-11.
Kearsney kept at it and reduced the deficit by a point at the midway point, trailing 25-30 at the break.
DHS controlled the third quarter, though, and, once more, extended their lead to go into the last quarter 43-31 to the good.
Strong defence from School forced turnovers and they turned those into points as they pulled well clear in the fourth to score a convincing 62-46 win.
Pabatso Sithole led Kearsney with 16 points, while James Hastings-Brown scored nine points. DHS’s Bukasa was the game’s leading scorer, with 20 points, while Lunathi Nyingwa added 13.
Kearsney won their other three open age group matches against School, but the three sides that faced Maritzburg College – fifth to seventh teams – went down.
Kearsney had the edge in the u16 age group, but DHS fared better at u15 level, although the Kearsney u15A side won.
In the u14 matches, Kearsney’s bid for a clean sweep was stopped by the DHS u14D team.
RESULTS
1st: Kearsney 46-62 DHS
2nd: Kearsney 33-14 DHS
3rd: Kearsney 32-14 DHS
4th: Kearsney 44-17 DHS
5th: Kearsney 29-45 Maritzburg College
6th: Kearsney 19-42 Maritzburg College
7th: Kearsney 23-31 Maritzburg College
16A: Kearsney 33-20 DHS
16B: Kearsney 37-18 DHS
16C: Kearsney 38-19 DHS
16D: Kearsney 39-17 DHS
16E: Kearsney 13-30 Maritzburg College
15A: Kearsney 25-21 DHS
15B: Kearsney 26-27 DHS
15C: Kearsney 13-29 DHS
15D: Kearsney 18-19 DHS
15E: Kearsney 20-0 Maritzburg College
14A: Kearsney 44-14 DHS
14B: Kearsney 50-0 DHS
14C: Kearsney 18-15 DHS
14D: Kearsney 6-10 DHS
14E: Kearsney 3-18 Maritzburg College
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