15 September 2023
(Feature photo courtesy of Justin Waldman Sports Photography | Facebook)
An incredible fightback from Saint Charles, led by an extraordinary bowling spell from leg-spinner Nathan Beaumont, saw Saints claw their way back from off of the ropes to defeat Hilton College by four runs in the final of the One Insurance T20 Night League at Eston on Friday evening.
Saints had looked almost down and out, and they appeared somewhat deflated after an outstanding third-wicket partnership of 82 runs between Ivan Lockem and Hilton skipper Ross Boast appeared to have set up the boys in black and white for a comfortable win. Beaumont, though, had other plans…
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Saints Charles innings
After winning the toss and choosing to bat, Saints had reached the midway point of their innings on 67 for 1 and went on to post 149 for 4 from their 20 overs.
Ntando Zuma led the way with the bat, hitting a fifty at just better than a run a ball – 51 from 46 – with the highlight being a massive six that took him to his half-century.
Up front, Cian Fortmann and Sam Brown got the Pietermaritzburg school off to a solid start, putting up 30. Then, in the fifth over, Brown executed a textbook pull off of paceman Kyle Christie for four. But when he tried to repeat the shot the very next ball, the delivery was shorter, the bounce was steeper, and Brown picked out the man on the boundary. He was on his way for 19 from 13 balls.
Wide deliveries costly
The three Hilton pacemen, who bowled up front, captain Boast, Kyle Christie and Ethan van Heerden hit the bat hard, but the first two were guilty at times of straying down the leg, which cost Hilton a number of runs. In a tight contest, those wayward deliveries proved to be critical.
Fortmann and Zuma steadied the Saints’ innings with a measured partnership. The left-handed Fortmann looked mostly solid throughout his knock, but he did offer a chance in the seventh over, when he snicked an excellent delivery across his body from Christie, but the opportunity was put down.
The pair saw Saints to 67 for 1 after 10 overs, leaving them with plenty of wickets in hand and a good platform from which to raise their run rate. Hilton’s spinners, though, kept them in check, right when one expected that an acceleration would come.
Good spell
Brett Cutting did a tidy job, snapping up 1 for 23 from his four overs, and he brought an end to the second wicket partnership with his second last ball, sending Fortmann packing after the opener went for a big shot over the top. He mistimed it and the ball looped down to third man where he was caught after contributing 32 from 35 deliveries.
Matthew Urquhart and Brendon Sunguro made it into the teens, but it appeared as if Saints might not have put enough on the board after they finished one run shy of 150.
While Cutting was the pick of the Hilton bowlers, Kyle Christie claimed 1 for 26 from his three overs, while Charles Swart, introduced in the 17th over, did a fine job, capturing 1 for 5, as Saints sought rapid runs.
Hilton College innings
Swart had hit successive fifties in Hilton’s previous two matches, but they opted to move him down the order and return to their more established opening pair of Luke Watt and Ivan Lockem up front for their run chase, which had an asking rate of 7.5 run per over.
From the start, the openers looked comfortable, rotating the strike without too much difficulty while accumulating ones and two and the odd boundary.
Watt welcomed Rowen Rajah to the attack in the third over by flat-batting successive fours back past the paceman, but Rajah produced the perfect response, sending Watt’s off-stump cartwheeling with his very next ball. After three overs, Hilton were on 28 for 1.
Danger man dismissed
Watt’s departure brought Swart to the wicket. Saint Charles could not afford to let him settle in. He had shown previously that once he gets himself in, he is difficult to dislodge. This time, though, Saints had an answer.
Swart didn’t last long before he was out to a curious looking shot, getting right under a shorter delivery from Thabiso Ndlela and lifting it to extra cover for an easy catch. He had made only two and Hilton had been reduced to 43 for 2.
Ross Boast, the next man in, scored a single off of his first ball. From the start, he looked unhurried and comfortable. In fact, with his arrival out in the middle, the scoreboard saw an uptick in the run rate.
With 5.4 overs bowled, Hilton reached 50. After 10 overs, they were on 84 for 2, 17 runs ahead of the Saint Charles total after the same number of overs.
Making it look easy
Lockem and Boast were on cruise control. Whatever delivery the Saints’ bowlers produced, they seemed to have an answer for it. Dot balls were few and hard to come by.
The pressure exerted by the batsmen took its toll, too. Hilton reached their century after 11.1 overs, running a bizarre four runs to get to triple figures after a couple or poor throws and less than stellar backing up from the Saint Charles fielders. They had begun to look a little ragged, and Lockem and Boast were fully in control.
Lockem went to his 50, scored off of 36 balls, with a big blast for six, but the partnership was finally halted in the 14th over, following the introduction of Nathan Beaumont, with Boast being caught off of the leg-spinner’s bowling for 47 from 34 balls.
It had been a classy knock and his partnership of 82 with Lockem had taken Hilton to within sight of victory. On 131 for 3, with five overs remaining, Boast’s team needed to score only 19 runs to win, with seven wickets in hand.
A forgone conclusion? Not so fast…
A Hilton win seemed a foregone conclusion. They had scored freely up front, and the hard work appeared to have been done. The odds were stacked in their favour. Beaumont, though, had other plans.
Bowling beautifully, he added another two wickets, including the prized scalp of Lockem to throw some doubt into Hilton’s run chase as they stumbled from 131 for 3 after 15 overs to 137 for 6 after 17. The energy had changed. The excellent Hilton College support on the side of the field had been in full voice, now it was muted. Saint Charles, who at one stage had looked beaten, had their tails up and they believed, once again, that they were in with a shot at victory.
Beaumont had led the blue and gold revival, but he wasn’t done. When Jared Kitto decided the best form of defence was attack, he failed to get hold of the ball properly and was caught at long off for two. With two overs remaining, Hilton were on 138 for 7.
Saints needed a good over from Marcus Wellman to keep the pressure up on their opponents and the left-arm spinner duly delivered, conceding only four runs from the 19th over, which left Hilton needing eight to win from Beaumont’s final over, the last over of the innings.
Last over
The very first ball of over number 20, he trapped Ethan van Heerden in front as Van Heerden missed an attempted sweep, and he was on his way for two.
Brett Cutting managed a single off of the next delivery, which brought Ivan Jjuuko onto strike. He backed across to off and attempted to lap Beaumont’s third ball around the corner, but he failed to make contact.
Jjuuko then drove down the ground for a single off of the fourth delivery. Alert to a possible second run, he and Cutting considered it, but then backed out. Cutting, though, was a bit lackadaisical in getting back into the crease and a pinpoint throw caught him with his bat on the line when the bails were broken. He was run out.
Two balls remained and Hilton were on 144 for 9. Matipa Denenga tried to pull Beaumont’s fifth ball from outside of off, but he was beaten, and the scoreboard stayed stationary. Suddenly, the game was Saints’ to lose. Hilton needed a six to win.
Astonishing
Finishing a stunning spell well, Beaumont surrendered only a single and Hilton’s innings ended with a thud on 145 for 9. They were four runs shy of the Saint Charles total, and Beaumont had finished with the astonishing figures of 5 for 10 from his four overs.
It had been a remarkable turnaround for Saints, led by the leggy, with Hilton scoring only 14 runs in the last five overs while losing six wickets.
Following a hard-to-believe-it-happened act of rising from the ashes, Saints had lifted the title in some style, in fairytale fashion.
SCORES
Saint Charles College 149 for 4 (N. Zuma 51, C. Fortmann 32, B. Cutting 1 for 23)
Hilton College 145 for 9 (I. Lockem 51, R. Boast 47, N. Beaumont 5 for 10)
Saint Charles won by four runs
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