St Stithians College are the Gauteng Schools T20 champions, writes THEO GARRUN.
St Stithians beat St John’s by 56 runs in the Johnny Waite Knockout final at Wits University on Wednesday to set up a clash with North West champions Potchefstroom Volkskool next Wednesday, also at Wits. The winners of that match will represent the Lions franchise at the competition’s national finals in Pretoria on 15-17 March.
Saints are the most successful team in the nine-year history of the tournament, having appeared at four national finals weekends, winning the title three times.
They batted first in the final and got off to a flyer. Cameron Rowe (35) and Jodi de Sousa (48) put on 61 for the first wicket, after which De Sousa combined with Liam Mostert (41) to put on 66 for the second.
St John’s managed to rein them in a bit and they finished on 181-5 from their 20 overs.
In reply, St John’s were in trouble early on. They found themselves on 17-4 and the game was effectively over. Nicholas Halsted-Cleak fought bravely and was 64 not out in the end, but he never had enough support and his side could only get to 125-8, still 56 runs short of their target.
On Tuesday Saints beat Jeppe by three wickets in a thrilling semi-final that saw them hit the winning runs off the final ball of the game. St John’s produced something of a surprise by beating King Edward by six wickets in the other semi.
Scores
Semifinals
Jeppe 158-4 (Brayden Hicks 41, Linda Ndlovu 31, Levert Manje 45)
St Stithians 158-7 (Cameron Rowe 49, Jodi de Sousa 45; Cian Roberston 2-21, Dylan Nicholas 2-24)
St Stithians won by 3 wickets
KES 136-9 (Keagan Janse van Rensburg 29; Jack Lees 3-23)
St John’s 139-4 (Jack Lees 40 not out, Hayden Israel 33 not out)
St John’s won by 6 wickets
Final
St Stithians 181-5 (Jodi de Sousa 48, Cameron Rowe 35, Liam Mostert 41; Ethan van der Merwe 2-29)
St John’s 125-8 (Nick Halstead-Cleak 64 not out, Jonathan Miltz 21)
St Stithians won by 56 runs
The next round of franchise finals takes place at Willowmoore Park in Benoni on Saturday. The Northerns, Easterns, Mpumalanga and Limpopo provincial champions will fight it out for the Titans franchise title.
Fixtures
9.00 am – Marais Viljoen vs Cambridge Academy
9.00 am – Waterkloof vs Ben Vorster
1.15 pm – Final
Photo: Theo Garrun
