A decision by St Charles College to bat first against Maritzburg College in the final of the Tuskers Inland rain Schools SA20 competition on Friday at the Pietermaritzburg Oval promised rich dividends but ultimately ended with a middling total.
Saints suffered a big blow in the first over when Christiaan Prinsloo, a consistent run scorer, was run out.
Soon, though, captain Ryan Clarke and opening batsman Josh Nicholson settled in and batted their side into the ascendancy, adding 65 from only 49 deliveries.
Azhar Mahmoud separated the duo when he had Nicholson caught by Joshua Thomas for 30. He had faced 33 balls and hit two fours.
Mahmoud, though, had struck only the first blow in a superb spell, which also earned him the wickets of Caleb Sharp for four and Matthew Buckley for four, too. After four overs, Mahmoud finished with a telling 3/18.
After Buckley’s departure, Clarke succumbed, leaving St Charles on 95/5 after 14 overs, a far cry from the 66/2 after 8.4, following Josh Nicholson’s exit. Clarke had cracked seven fours in a 32-ball stay that produced 47 runs, the highest score of the match.
Only Relebogile Mokoena, with 17, and Owen Widdows, with 11, also reached double figures. Luke Venter accounted for Widdows and Tlotlang Kobe, on his way to a return of 2/25 from 3.4 overs. He was in the thick of the action, also involved in the run outs of Chris Uys and Jack Richards, off successive balls in the final over.
Tristan Seach, with 1/15 from three overs, and Riley Palmer, with 1/21 from four, also bowled tidily as St Charles was dismissed for 127 with two balls remaining in their 20-over allocation.
The Maritzburg College reply began in a similarly poor manner as that of St Charles, when they lost a wicket in the first over of their reply.
However, much like their Pietermaritzburg rivals, College put together a strong second-wicket stand, with Luan van der Merwe and James Pembridge advancing the total by 59 runs from 57 balls.
Relebogile Mokoena ended the dangerous partnership by bowling Van der Merwe for 23 and immediately picked up another wicket with the next ball. Then Keegan Vermaak removed James Pembridge, caught by Mokoena, just two balls later.
College had lost three wickets in four balls, leaving the Red, Black, and White on 59/4 after 10.2 overs. Pembridge contributed a run-a-ball 30 with four fours.
Tristan Seach and Luke Venter stopped the slide for a while, adding 20 off 20 deliveries before Seach fell for nine.
Venter continued to drive Maritzburg College’s run chase, and he and Matt Bisset combined for a 29-run sixth-wicket partnership, which ended when Jack Richards had Bisset caught by Caleb Sharp for 13, leaving College needing 20 to win from three overs.
Saints’ skipper Ryan Clarke conceded seven runs from the next over. Then, Jack Richards produced an outstanding over, removing Riley Palmer, caught and bowled, off his last ball, and the over cost only four runs.
Maritzburg College headed into the final over on 119/7, needing nine to win. Clarke surrendered only five, and St Charles eked out a heart-pounding three-run win to be crowned the Tuskers Inland Schools SA20 champion for a second successive year.
Luke Venter was unbeaten on 29 from 24 balls as College finished on 124/7.
Jack Richards captured 2/26 from four overs, Relebogile Mokoena claimed 2/27 from two, and Ryan Clarke rose to the challenge when the chips were down, conceding only 15 runs from his four overs, while also picking up a wicket.
Both sides progress to the KZN regional final in January, when they will face the top two teams from the KZN Coastal region for the honour of representing KZN at the National Finals.
Summarised Scorecard:
St Charles College 127/10 (Ryan Clarke 47, Josh Nicholson 30; Azhar Mahmoud 3/18, Luke Venter 2/25); Maritzburg College 124/7 (James Pembridge 30, Luke Venter 29*, Luan van der Merwe 23; Jack Richards 2/26, Relebogile 2/27). St Charles College won by three runs.
