Two teams that had been in action at the Wildeklawer North-South T20 over the past weekend, met in the Eston One Insurance T20 Night League on Thursday evening when Durban High School (DHS) tackled Westville Boys’ High.
It has been an up-and-down season for DHS, but for the past three years, something that has usually meant victories for the Horseflies has been when Ismaeel Omar and Josh van Biljon get in and build a partnership. They did that against Westville, sharing a 70-run second-wicket stand, which was the key to their six-wicket win with five balls to spare.
With the victory, DHS qualified for the final against Michaelhouse on Friday.
Van Biljon won the toss and chose to bowl first, and while Westville’s top five all made it into double figures, and four of the five went beyond 20, the DHS attack clamped down on the Griffins late in their innings to take charge of a situation that threatened to get out of control.
Westville had powered to 102 in the 14th over when they lost their captain, Kyle McGough, in the 14th over for the top score of the match. In 43 balls, he had made 54, hitting five fours and a six, sharing a 58-run second-wicket stand with Tristin Delvin, who made 23 off 20, and a 31-run third-wicket partnership with Ewan du Toit, who also made 23, but off 23 deliveries.
In their remaining 37 balls, Westville tacked on 44 runs, and they would have wanted to do better than that. Aarin Rasmussen finished unbeaten on 21 from 20, with a pair of fours, and Westville totalled 146/4.
Shirav Reddy, with 1/16 from his four overs, was the primary problem the Griffins ran into, while Jeremiah Joseph, who shared the new ball with Bonga Maphanga, got rid of the dangerous Aidan Baudach for 12, on his way to 1/27 from four overs.
DHS, the 2025 Eston One Insurance T20 Night League champion, lost Shaun Stumke early in their reply for eight, but he faced only five balls, and that brought Omar and Van Biljon together.
Playing calm, measured innings, the duo added 70 in 55 balls, taking the total to 80 in the eleventh over before Omar fell, caught by the wicketkeeper, Baudach, off the left-arm spin of Ewan du Toit for 42. He had faced 35 deliveries, hitting five of them for four and another for six.
Jeremiah Joseph was the next batsman to the crease and, crucially, he settled in quickly and contributed 30 off 24 balls, cracking three fours. He was out to the first ball of the 18th over, which left DHS on 130/3. They needed 17 runs off 17 deliveries.
Van Biljon was still out in the middle, where he was joined by the hard-hitting Bonga Maphanga, the right man for the situation, and he scored seven runs from the first three balls he faced.
Michael Hopkins, though, did a fine job for Westville in the 19th over. After bowling a dot ball, he had Van Biljon caught by Jamie Hasselbach for 41. The DHS skipper hit two sixes and a four in his 42-ball stay.
Over the next four balls of his over, Hopkins conceded only five runs. That left DHS on the brink of victory, on 143/4.
A no ball brought them another run, and they still had six deliveries to score three to win. Maphanga then struck the next ball from Elijah Stoop for four, and victory belonged to DHS. Maphanga was 15 not out off only seven balls.
Ewan du Toit was the tidiest of the Westville bowlers, claiming 1/23 from four overs in a contest in which no bowler took more than one wicket. Michael Hopkins returned 1/26 for four.
Summarised Scorecard:
Westville Boys’ High 143/4 (Kyle McGough 54, Tristin Delvin 23, Ewan du Toit 23, Aarin Rasmussen 21*; Shirav Reddy 1/18, Casey Buys 1/18); Durban High School 149/4 (Ismaeel Omar 42, Josh van Biljon 41, Jeremiah Joseph 30; Ewan du Toit 1/23, Michael Hopkins 1/26). Durban High School won by six wickets.
