After being on the wrong end of the result against St Charles College on Monday in a rain Schools SA20 clash, Michaelhouse emphatically reversed the result, beating St Charles by eight wickets with 20 balls to spare in the semifinals of the Eston One Insurance Night League on Tuesday.
With the rain Schools SA20 running into 2027, teams field sides that exclude Grade 12 learners, but those players were back in action on Tuesday, and made a telling impact for Michaelhouse at the Beaumont Eston Farmers Club.
St Charles batted first after winning the toss and posted a sound 159/6. They could have scored more, however, with four batsmen getting in and making it into double figures without exiting the teens.
Ryan Clarke was the lone batsman to press on, and he did an excellent job, stroking five fours and hitting two sixes in a 43-ball stay that produced 63 runs.
Ben Heuer shared the new ball with Heath Turner and claimed 2/27 in four overs, removing opening batsman Christiaan Prinsloo for 16, and then picking up the key wicket of Clarke. Rendani Nonge returned 2/21 from three, and Rex Wardlaw nabbed 2/36 from four.
Clarke and Connor Simpson shared the innings’ highest partnership, adding 47 in 42 balls for the third wicket, with Simpson scoring 19, tied with Jayden Saville, whose undefeated 19 came from only 10 balls.
Needing to bat at eight runs per over to win, Michaelhouse’s response to St Charles was aggressive and effective. Captain Graydon Leslie and his opening partner Victor North set their team on course for victory with a 59-run first-wicket partnership from only 41 balls. It ended when Connor Vogt bowled North for 32. He had faced 23 balls, striking two fours and two sixes.
Unfortunately, for Saints, when Ben Heuer replaced North in the middle, the onslaught didn’t ease up. It shifted through the gears.
Leslie and Heuer turbo-charged House‘s innings, adding 95 off only 55 balls to take them to the brink of victory before the Michaelhouse skipper’s fine knock was halted by a run out. By then, the Balgowan boys needed only six runs to win, with plenty of balls in hand.
Leslie had contributed 68 runs from 48 balls, hitting six fours and a six.
Six balls later, Michaelhouse had scored the six runs they required, and victory was theirs. Heuer, who has been in superb all-round form, was unbeaten on 45 from just 28 deliveries, three of which he sent to the boundary and one over it.
Vogt, the man responsible for running out Leslie, was also the sole wicket-taker, returning 1/22 from two overs. He was one of eight bowlers Saints’ captain Thando Zama employed in an attempt to stop the runaway train that was the Michaelhouse innings.
On Tuesday, though, there was no stopping it.
Summarised Scorecard
St Charles College 159/6 (Ryan Clarke 61; Rendani Nonge 2/21, Ben Heuer 2/27, Rex Wardlaw 2/36); Michaelhouse 160/2 after 15.4 overs (Graydon Leslie 68, Ben Heuer 45*, Victor North 32; Connor Vogt 1/22). Michaelhouse won by eight wickets.
