St Stithians beat St Charles by 53 runs in the final of the Schools T20 Challenge on Sunday to take the title for a record fourth time, writes THEO GARRUN.
St Charles won the toss and put St Stithians in to bat… and after they restricted them to 123-7 in their 20 overs it didn’t look like the Joburg side had enough runs to defend. The prolific Saints top order failed for once, and it was left to Travis Ladner (41) and Sebastian de Oliviera (35) to give the score some respectability.
St Charles’ run chase got off to a solid start. They were 25-1 after five overs and looked ready to accelerate, but they began losing wickets at the rate of close to one per over and began to drop behind the asking rate. Liam McCarthy put in a great spell to take 4-14 from his four overs. St Charles lost their remaining wickets cheaply to be all out for 70 in the 17th over.
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The defeat brought an end to a remarkable season for St Charles. They lost to St Andrew’s School in the last of their cross-pool games on Sunday morning to surrender their unbeaten season, and the afternoon loss was only their second of 23 games this season.
Their captain, Wesley Madhevere, was in a class of his own all weekend and was deservedly named Player of the Tournament. The award for Best Batsman went to Cameron Rowe of St Stithians, while Clive Madande of St Charles was the Best Bowler.
Summarised scores
Final
St Stithians 123-7 (Travis Ladner 41, Sebastian de Oliviera 35; Keegan Crawford 2-28, Wesley Madhevere 2-9)
St Charles 70 (Nicholas Lunderstedt 20; Liam McCarthy 4-14)
St Stithians won by 53 runs
All Stars Game
CSA Hubs XI 119-8 (Levert Manje 27)
Coca-Cola All Stars 120-6 (Naziel Adams 25, Jannie Claasens 30, Timothy Malan 24; Tshipiso Makau 2-11)
Coca-Cola All Stars won by 4 wickets
Cross Pool Games
St Andrew’s College 108-9 (Guy Rushmere 31, Nicholas Frances 21 not out; Eddie Visser 3-12, Juan Wilson 2-21)
Paarl Gim 64 (Arno Marais 20; Ryan Ford 2-12, Malcolm McGregor 2-16, Nicholas Barlow 2-1)
St Andrew’s College won by 44 runs
Queens 106-7 (Lethabo Gulwa 25, Nhlanhla Ntleko 26)
St Stithians 107-1 (Jodi de Sousa 34, Cameron Rowe 39 not out)
St Stithians won by 9 wickets.
Hudson Park 84 (Nonelela Yikha 52; Hardus Coetzer 4-8)
Waterkloof 85-2 (Jordan Hermann 47 not out, Hardus Coetzer 30)
Waterkloof won by 8 wickets
St Andrew’s School 153-7 (Henry Koekemoer 51; Wesley Madhevere 3-8)
St Charles 129-6 (Jason Login 28, Humphrey van der Merwe 45 not out)
St Andrew’s School won by 24 runs
Photo: Theo Garrun
