St Charles College owns an impressive record in the One Insurance Eston T20 Night League, with back-to-back titles in 2023 and 2024. They’ve excelled because they’ve played the big moments well, and that quality was again to the fore in a nail-biting win over Westville Boys’ High at the Beaumont Eston Farmers Club on Monday night.
The match came down to the final ball. With one more delivery to be bowled, the teams’ scores were level. Then Saints‘ Keegan Vermaak, who had made his way to the crease in the last over, delivered the blow that mattered. Westville had to prevent a single. Instead, he beat the field, hitting a four to see St Charles through to victory.
Westville captain Kyle McGough won the toss and opted to bat first, and the top order responded well. Ewan du Toit and Aidan Baudach posted 35 for the first wicket in four overs before Du Toit fell.
After striking a four and two sixes, he was bowled by Kaiyuran Naidoo for 26 from 16 deliveries. Naidoo would go on to deliver a critical four overs, conceding only 16 runs, which was the best economy rate of any of the St Charles bowlers.
McGough joined Baudach, and they added another 30 runs before Caleb Sharp trapped McGough in front for 20 from only 14 balls.
Baudach stuck around until the 17th over, eventually succumbing, caught by Owen Widdows off Jayden Saville, for 38. Remarkably, his 44-ball stay didn’t produce a single boundary, but he kept the scoreboard ticking.
Arin Rasmussen was the other batsman to record a telling contribution. He made a run-a-ball 27 before losing his wicket to the last ball of the innings. Luca Roddan weighed in with a useful cameo, blasting two sixes in an unbeaten 15 off eight deliveries.
After 20 overs, Westville had totalled 139/8.
Besides Naidoo, Caleb Sharp shone, returning 2/26 from his four overs, while Jayden Saville took 2/33 in his four.
In reply, Saints lost Owen Widdows early, bowled by Kyle McGough, but his fellow opener, Thando Zama, and Ryan Clarke set the Pietermaritzburg school on track with a 50-run second-wicket stand in only 34 balls. Arin Rasmussen ended it when he bowled Clarke for 15.
Zama and Connor Simpson maintained the momentum, however, with a 33-run partnership in 23 balls before Rasmussen removed the Saints’ skipper, but not before he had delivered the highest score of the match. Facing 40 balls, he hit four fours and made 56 runs.
Simpson then took over as the primary driver of the Saints’ innings. With the winning runs within sight, though, he was run out in the final over after a 39-run contribution from 31 balls, three of which he dispatched to the boundary. Jayden Saville, who would end with 16 not out off 18, was at the other end.
Still, it needed Keegan Vermaak to see Saints to victory.
Rasmussen, with 3/27 from four overs, almost derailed the St Charles run chase, while Kyle McGough led from the front with his 1/23, but it was not quite enough as Saints snatched victory at the death.
Scorecards
Westville Boys’ High 139/8 (Aidan Baudach 38, Arin Rasmussen 27, Ewan du Toit 26, Kyle McGough 20; Caleb Sharp 2/26, Jayden Saville 2/33, Kaiyuran Naidoo 1/16); St Charles College 143/6 (Thando Zama 56, Connor Simpson 39; Arin Rasmussen 3/27, Kyle McGough 1/23, Ewan du Toit 1/28). St Charles College won by four wickets.
