Defending schools T20 champions St Andrews School have qualified for the Knights Franchise finals of the T20 Schools Challenge after a thrilling three-wicket win over Grey College.

The 2019 Schools T20 Challenge tournament has reached the head-to-head end of the tournament and St Andrews School have emerged as the winners of the Free State provincial finals. The school will play against Northern Cape High School to have the opportunity to represent the Knights in the national finals.

This year’s provincial finals were played over two days at St Andrews High School and started off with a round robin tournament where Grey College, Goudveld High School, HUB Kroonstad, St Andrews School, Hoërskool Voortrekker and Sasolburg High School played against each other for the honour of representing their franchise.

St Andrews beat Sasolburg High School by 100 runs, Hoërskool Voortrekker by 176 runs, and Grey College by three wickets in the final to finish as the only unbeaten team in the tournament.

There were many outstanding performances by the team. Pheko Moletsane took 3-7 against their old nemesis Grey Gollege, Naleki Sekhibane snapped up 4-7 against Sasolburg High School, while Ruan Cronje (100 not out), Corne Viljoen (58 not out) and Henre Koekemoer (56) were on song with the bat in their side’s mammoth win over Hoërskool Voortrekker.

The winner of the Franchise finals will join the other five franchise winners, plus the two schools that qualified through the CSA Focus School programme in the competition’s National Finals at the University of Pretoria from 15-17 March 2019. The T20 School Challenge winner stands to walk away with R110 000 in prize money for their school.

Results

Quarter-finals

Goudveld High School 120-6 (D Smith 30)
Grey College 124-4 (D Beukes 40, M de Kock 37)
Grey College won by 6 wickets

Goudveld High School 118-9 (T Plank 2-15)
Hub Kroonstad School 93 (S Prinsloo 3-21)
Goudveld won by 25 runs

Grey College 224-5 (D Beukes 133 not out, M Fouche 48; T Tlaeli 2-45)
Hub Kroonstad School 90-6 (L Lekhobo 43 not out; M Kershaw 2-15)
Grey College won by 134 runs

St Andrews 205-6 (C Viljoen 68, R van Staden 45 not out; R Jansen van Rensburg 2-26)
Sasolburg High School 105-6 (L Loubser 34, E Deetlefs 33 not out; N Sekhibane 4-7)
St Andrews won by 100 runs

Semi-finals

St Andrews 246-2 (R Cronje 100 not out, C Viljoen 58 not out, H Koekemoer 56)
Hoërskool Voortrekker 70-7 (V Nel 25 not out; R Alexander 2-7)
St Andrews won by 176 runs

Hoërskool Voortrekker 175-6 (H Classen 61, H Smit 39)
Sasolburg High 87  (E Deetlefs 33; M Khan 3-17)
Voortrekker won by 88 runs

Final

Grey College 96-7 (J Olivier 35, D Bruin 33 not out; P Moletsane 3-7)
St Andrews 97-7
St Andrews won by 3 wickets

Photo: Frikkie Kapp/Gallo Images