St Charles College delivered a strong all-round performance to defeat Michaelhouse by four wickets with 10 balls to spare in a Rain Schools SA20 match on the SCC Oval in Pietermaritzburg on Monday.
With teams no longer including Grade 12 learners for the Schools SA20 competition, the sides had a different look. However, the considerable experience in the Saints’ line-up stood out, and that counted in the game.
When the toss went the home side’s way, captain Ryan Clarke inserted Michaelhouse to bat.
The visitors lost a couple of early wickets, leaving them looking a touch vulnerable in the fifth over, on 20/2. Over the next seven overs, though, the Balgowan boys went on the offensive.
Opening batsman Rex Wardlaw led the onslaught and partnered with Riley Muir to add 71 runs for the third wicket. Eventually, Wardlaw fell, caught by Jayden Saville off Caleb Sharp for 51. His entertaining knock had taken only 40 balls and included four fours and two sixes.
Muir followed seven runs later, out for a quickfire 33 off 17, with a four and three sixes. His exit left House on 98/4 in the 13th over.
The visitors kept pressing, however, picking up runs, but also losing wickets along the way.
Cameron McCleary provided further impetus, clubbing four fours and a six in an unbeaten 34 off only 19 deliveries, and Michaelhouse finished on 174/8, scoring at a robust rate of 8.7 runs per over.
Left-arm spinner Caleb Sharp led the Saints‘ bowling attack, nabbing 3/30 from his four overs, while leg-spinner Keegan Vermaak claimed 2/20 from three. Opening bowler, Jayden Saville, came in for some stick, but picked up 2/38 in four.
In reply, the hosts made a similar start to Michaelhouse and were on the back foot on 16/2 in the third over. However, like House, their third-wicket partnership turned the tide.
Christiaan Prinsloo, more often seen playing conservatively as an opener in longer forms of the game, showed he had another string to his bow. Coming in at the fall of the first wicket, he took the attack to the Michaelhouse bowlers. He also found a partner with an equally offensive mindset in Ryan Clarke, and they scored 78 runs off only 41 balls.
Clarke was out in the tenth over, caught by Wonga Mlonzi off Riley Muir for a fiery 44, which included two fours, four sixes, and took only 23 balls.
Caleb Sharp and Christiaan Prinsloo tacked on 20 more runs before Sharp departed for 13, leaving the home team on 114/4 in the 12th over.
Prinsloo was again a contributor to another useful partnership, his third of the innings, adding 36 off 22 deliveries with Relebogile Mokoena for the fifth wicket before, at last, he lost his wicket in the 16th over. He contributed the match’s highest score, tallying 58 off 42 balls, with four fours and three sixes.
His exit left St Charles needing 26 runs to win off 22 balls. They took only 12 to secure victory.
Mokoena drove them to within five runs of the win, striking three fours and two sixes in a 19-ball stay that produced 32 runs before he was caught by Cody Sander off Rex Wardlaw.
It took the Blue and Gold only three more deliveries to wrap up the win.
Rex Wardlaw was the pick of the Michaelhouse bowlers. He accounted for Prinsloo and Mokoena and captured 2/21 from four overs. Riley Muir took two, also, but went for 38 runs from his four overs.
Summarised Scorecard:
Michaelhouse 175/8 (Rex Wardlaw 51, Cameron McCleary 34*, Riley Muir 33; Caleb Sharp 3/30, Keegan Vermaak 2/20, Jayden Saville 2/38); St Charles College 176/6 (Christiaan Prinsloo 58, Ryan Clarke 44, Relebogile Mokoena 32; Rex Wardlaw 2/21, Riley Muir 2/38). St Charles College won by four wickets.
