St Patrick’s CBC ensured their decision to bowl against Hoërskool Upington on Backfield in Kimberley was a good one by restricting the visitors to 128/7 in a rain Schools SA20 Northern Cape clash on Friday.
Uppies owed plenty to CJ Botha, who slammed nine fours and a six in his 47-ball stay, which produced 63 runs. Without him, the visitors would have floundered.
Vaylen Lombard shared the second-highest score of 18 with Stephan Fourie, who finished out, and Lombard partnered with Botha for the innings’ highest stand of 69 for the third wicket.
Kieran Adams got rid of Lombard, caught by Sulaimaan Hunter, and added two more middle-order batsmen to his haul, picking up a tidy 3/17 from his four overs. Faizaan Kajee removed the troublesome CJ Botha and finished with 1//22 from four.
After losing Daniel Feder early in their reply, CBC charged towards victory, with Faizaan Kajee and Otlwile Diphokoja adding 93 runs off 10.4 overs before Juan Bezuidenhout trapped Kajee in front for 42. He had faced only 29 balls and hit seven of them for four.
Diphokoja helped CBC to level the scores, but he then lost his wicket, leaving the home side on 128/3, needing only one run to win, which they scored a ball later. The number three batsman top-scored with 49 off 46 deliveries, and matched Kajee’s seven fours.
Opening bowler, Juan Bezuidenhout, was the best of the Upington attack, capturing 2/35 from his four overs.
St Patrick’s CBC vs Hoërskool Kalahari 2nd XI
St Patrick’s CBC racked up a second win, outplaying the Hoërskool Kalahari 2nd XI by 112 runs at the same venue.
Led by an unbeaten 78 off only 53 balls from Kieran Adams, featuring seven fours and three sixes, CBS posted a strong 175/6.
Otlwile Diphokoja made another useful contribution, weighing in with 37, while Shadrodean Benjamin made 22.
Waldu Noeth was a touch on the expensive side, but picked up 2/43 from his four overs, while Sachin Cloete limited CBC’s scoring, claiming 1/23 in four.
Apart from Waldu Noeth, the Kalahari 2nd XI’s batsmen had few answers for the questions asked by CBC’s attack. Noeth hit four fours in his 20 from 21 balls, and Franco Louw made 10, but no one else moved beyond single figures, and the visitors were skittled for only 63 in 14.4 overs.
Daniel Feder made good use of the new ball, knocking over 3/13 in four overs, while Otlwile Diphokoja showed off his all-round ability by snapping up 4/14 in three.
Hoërskool De Aar vs HC Rose Hub XI
In a tighter contest, Hoërskool De Aar beat the HC Rose Hub XI by three wickets in a contest in which 17 wickets fell in only 22.1 overs.
Playing at the Kimberley Country Club, De Aar won the coin flip and sent the Hub out to bat. That was a good call.
The Hub lost a wicket on the second ball of their innings. However, Othello Bartlett and A Hartzenburg responded by hitting out, sharing six fours and six between them in a second-wicket partnership of 38 runs in only 22 balls before Bartlett fell for 13.
Hartzenburg stuck around a while longer, helping the total to 53 before he lost his wicket, LBW to Senzo Fillies. That was the start of a collapse, and Fillies was the primary reason it happened. In just 3.4 overs, he knocked over 6/16, and Rose Hub tumbled from 53/2 to 84 all out in only 11.4 overs.
Duan Greeff provided the necessary support, picking up 2/20 from three overs.
The Hub’s total could have been a lot worse, but 28 extras, including 25 wides, were the biggest contributor to the 84 runs.
De Aar subsequently chased down the runs quickly, but not without incident. Still, in just 10.3 overs, they secured victory by reaching 85/7. They, too, benefitted from extras, with 21 of them boosting the run chase.
Like the Hub, their only good partnership came from the second-wicket pair. Opening batsman Saeed Mukhadir went hard at the bowling, hitting five fours and two sixes in his 35 off 25, while Angelo Struis added 22 off 14, with two fours and two sixes. Together, they added 48 in 4.4 overs.
Those runs and the extras were extremely valuable as the next six batsmen in the order contributed only four runs between them, although two remained not out.
Othello Bartlett almost turned the tide, snapping up 5/26 from only 2.3 overs, but the Hub didn’t have enough runs to defend. Tshidiso Thekiso did a good job, slowing the scoring to a trickle while claiming 1/3 from three overs.
Summarised Scorecards:
Hoërskool Upington 128/7 (CJ Botha 63; Kieran Adams 3/17); St Patrick’s CBC 129/3 (Otlwile Diphokoja 49, Faizaan Kajee 46; Juan Bezuidenhout 2/35). St Patrick’s CBC won by seven wickets.
St Patrick’s CBC 175/6 (Kieran Adams 78*, Otlwile Diphokoja 37, Shadrodean Benjamin 22; Waldu Noeth 2/43); Hoërskool Kalahari 2nd XI 63/10 (Waldu Noeth 20; Otlwile Diphokoja 4/14, Daniel Feder 3/13). St Patrick’s CBC won by 112 runs.
HC Rose Hub XI 84/10 (Extras 25, A Hartzenburg 21; Senzo Fillies 6/16, Duan Greeff 2/20); Hoërskool De Aar 85/7 (Saeed Mukhadir 35, Angelo Struis 22, Extras 21; Othello Bartlett 5/26). Hoërskool De Aar won by three wickets.
