18 February 2025
For a second year in succession, Durban High School (DHS) proved their mettle in high-pressure situations by capturing the Clifton T20 Tournament title. Whereas they had suffered a loss on their way to lifting the trophy in 2024, this time around they boasted a clean record.
On day one, Friday, 14 February, DHS and Westville Boys’ High raised their hands as the teams to beat. School started out with a workmanlike 35-run victory over Glenwood High School. Then, against a dangerous Hoërskool Waterkloof, in their second outing, they roared to a 44-run win behind a superb 103 not out from Josh van Biljon.
Westville, meanwhile, cruised to an eight-wicket win over St John’s College (Harare) in their opener. They followed up on that with an emphatic 54-run victory over Hilton College. Skipper, Seth Simpson, who snapped up 4/14 in his side’s win over St John’s, slammed an undefeated 102 in their win over Hilton.
Day two, Saturday, as was the case in the inaugural tournament – which was launched in 2024, Clifton’s Centenary year, hence the Clifton Centenary Cup being on the line – was rain-affected. Only three matches were played. Neither DHS nor Westville made it onto the field, but they had done enough already to qualify for the semi-finals.
Waterkloof captain Riley Miller lit up Saturday, though, with a blistering unbeaten 123 from 40 balls, which included an astonishing 14 sixes, against Glenwood. The Pretoria school went on a batting rampage, scoring at over 16 runs an over to post 290/4 in 18 overs. There was no coming back from that for the Green Machine.
On Sunday, at Northwood, Byron Ward smashed 10 sixes and five fours in his first century for the Clifton 1st XI to help them to 179/6 in the ninth-place playoff against St John’s (Harare), which set the hosts up for a comfortable 60-run victory behind the new ball pair of Caleb Naicker and Blake Johnson, who claimed 4/28 and 3/27 respectively.
David de Bruyn just missed out on a century for Northwood in the eleventh-place playoff, falling for 96, but his effort enabled the Knights to tally a challenging 181/8. Then, Trevor van Volenstee, given a first run in the 1st XI, delivered big time, knocking over 5/28 to spur Northwood to a 56-run win.
At DHS, Maritzburg College mustered 126/9 against Waterkloof. Against most teams that would have left College in with a shout at victory, but Klofies play without fear, have very capable batsmen, and they hit the ball hard. They won by seven wickets with over five overs to spare. Not many teams have been able to truly get after the College bowling in that fashion this year.
The eliminators – which saw Kearsney College taking on St Charles College for a place in the semi-finals, and Hilton College facing Michaelhouse for the same reward – produced entertaining fare, but for very different reasons.
The Crusaders 2 Field, a smaller venue, invites players to hit out and Kearsney’s Aaron Blackburn and Cole Young got that right, scoring 67 and 65 respectively to be the main contributors to their team’s 173/7.
A superb 42 from only 14 balls, with four fours and four sixes from Saints‘ skipper Rico Honiball, set up the Pietermaritzburg boys for a successful run chase, but Kearsney fought back well. It came down to the final over, with Litha Gonya entrusted with defending six runs. He gave away only three and Kearsney was on to the final four.
On the Crusaders Main Oval, Hilton College tallied 152/5 against Michaelhouse, with James Ogibly making an unbeaten 52. Michaelhouse made a flying start to their run chase, but they lost a little momentum after their top order players were dismissed.
With the pressure on, they suffered an astonishing collapse, going from 129/4 to 133 all out as Jayden Roux captured 4/18 and Benoit Rey 3/17.
It was tough on Kearsney and Hilton, who immediately had to take to the field again in the semi-finals, but DHS and Westville had earned their places there by being the top performers in the group stage of the competition. Both the Horseflies and the Griffin also showed that they were the class of the field in those semi-final clashes.
On Crusaders 2, Keegan de Jager made 61 not out as the Botha’s Hill boys made 157/8, but a superb knock from Ismaeel Omar, which brought him an unbeaten 104, guided DHS to an eight-wicket victory with just less than two overs to spare.
In front of the DStv Channel 216 cameras on the Crusaders Main Oval, James Ogibly again led the Hilton scoring, making 32, but Hilton’s 112 all out against Westville didn’t appear to be enough. It wasn’t.
Westville made short work of that total, racing to a nine-wicket win, with Seth Simpson unbeaten on 57 and Kyle McGough on 40.
And so, on to the final. A lively crowd was spread around the main oval at Northwood Crusaders Club, and it made for a fittingly fun atmosphere. On the field, though, the action was intense.
DHS batted first and put up 161/9 in their 20 overs. Ismaeel Omar, fresh off his century earlier in the day against Kearsney, top scored for School, making 38 before being run out. Ethan Cooper gave DHS excellent momentum up front, with a quickfire 27, while Dhilan Naraidu came through when the chips were down, weighing in with 29, to help the lower order add some much-needed runs.
Westville’s reply was undermined early by DHS skipper, Bayanda Majola, who steamed in and generated good pace. He removed Sean McGough cheaply and then, in one of the key moments of the match, struck Westville’s in-form Seth Simpson, which was followed by the ball deflecting onto the wicket in another cruel blow for the Westville captain and his team.
Majola got rid of another dangerous batsman when he had Kyle McGough magnificently caught by Sibusiso Msibi for 20. Westville struggled to recover and matters deteriorated when they slipped to 40/5.
They kept fighting, however, and an unbeaten 38 from Heath Stott, 29 from Aiden Baudach, and 20 not out from Ewan du Toit helped the Griffin to 146/7, which left DHS the winners by 15 runs.
Clifton College Executive Headmaster Clyde Mac Donald presented the beautiful Centenary Cup to School for a second year in succession and, for a second year in succession, too, the Coach of the Tournament went to Fabian Lazarus, of DHS.
Michaelhouse captain and opening batsman Ethan Muir scored 227 runs and was named the Batsman of the Tournament, while Sechaba Gude, of Hilton, took nine wickets to win the Bowler of the Tournament accolade. Both received R3 000 vouchers from Edgars and Red Dragon gaming hampers worth over R1 000.
Mr Mac Donald was justifiably thrilled with the turnout at Crusaders. He also expressed his happiness with the success of the Clifton T20 as an exercise in goodwill and community building, and that not only included the participating schools but also the local community.
The feedback from players, parents, and supporters who had travelled from afar was uniformly positive.
As a legacy of the Clifton Centenary, the Clifton T20, in school parlance, aced the test.
Congratulations to Clifton’s Director of Cricket, Brandon Scullard; Kirsty Northend, who so effectively carried out behind-the-scenes work; Director of Sport, Jaco Coetzer; the Clifton cricket moms who played such a key role in the event’s success; and the rest of the Clifton staff and boys who made the tournament a feel-good success.
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