Grey College is the only unbeaten team at the Coca-Cola Schools T20 Challenge

Interviews, footage and transcripts can be found on http://www.csamedia.co.za/coca-cola-schools-t20.html

Grey College dominated day one of the Coca-Cola Schools T20 Challenge, that kicked off at the University of Stellenbosch on Friday the 20^th February, by being the only unbeaten team on the day.

In a tournament like this there is no team that is historically dominant and that can expect to be the favourites so day one of the tournament is always a day in which the teams look to discovery who are the most powerful teams that they will come against. Hilton College and Paarl Boys High might think that they are unlucky because they took on a very powerful Grey College on the first day of the tournament but some would say that they are lucky due to the fact that they got their most difficult game out of the way and now they can play more freely.

Grey College took on Hilton College in their morning game and Grey came out all guns blazing. Wihan Victor took on the Hilton bowlers and hit a magnificent 114 in 51 balls before he was bowled by Krogg. His wicket was a little too late because the damage had already been done. Grey eventually finished on 195/3 which proved to be the highest score of the day’s play. Hilton decided that they would chase the score from the first ball and it did not prove to be the best decision. They lost wickets recklessly chasing the huge score. Eventually Grey managed to bowl them out for 79 runs. Philip Visser was Grey’s best bowler taking 4/13. It is important to know that it was Hilton’s first loss this season in any format of the game.

Volkskool Potchefstroom, the surprise Lions representative, took on St Andrews College from Grahamstown on the main field with a lot of spectators watching the game. Unfortunately Volkies were outplayed from the first ball and lost wickets at regular intervals. They did not even manage to bat for their full 20 overs eventually being bowled out for 84 in 18.5 overs, Thomas Lane was St Andrews best bowler taking 3/11. ST Andrews were never tested when they chased down the total and easily knocked off the runs in 15.4 overs.

The last morning game was between Paarl Boys High and Menlopark Hoerskool. Paarl are the local team and they came to the tournament with a lot of local supporters who did not leave disappointed. Paarl Boys hit 144 runs for four wickets with their keeper Justin Wubbeling hitting 95 not out off 64 balls. Thanks to some good fielding and accurate bowling Menlopark were not able to chase down the score. They only managed to hit 89 runs for the loss of 8 wickets. All of the Paarl bowlers contributed in a great team effort.

Coming into the afternoon games it looked like Paarl Boys High, St Andrews and Grey College were the teams to beat however Grey College and Paarl Boys high were scheduled to play against each other in a potential preview to Sunday’s final.

Once again Grey College batted first and this time did not find the game as easy as their first game. Wihan Victor only hit 28 off 22 balls so they had to rely on this middle order to setup a defendable total and they were not disappointed. Raynard van Tonder rose to the occasion and hit 55 runs to help Grey score 150/5 in this 20 overs. Paarl Boys High were in the game until the last over of the match however 151 to win was just too much for them and they fell 12 runs short. They managed to score 138 for 7 thanks to a quick 56 from Tiaan du Plessis, Charl Swanepoel took 3 for 24 for Grey college.

Hilton College bounced back from a bad loss to Grey College by beating Volkskool Potchefstroom by 56 runs. They batted well posting 175 for 3 with Curtis (47), Jewels (46) and Morris (52*) scoring the majority of the runs. Hilton proved that they were a far better batting line up than what they showed when they played Grey College in their first game. Volkskool Potchefstroom tried hard to chase down the Hilton total but were their worst enemies losing 5 wickets to run outs. Hilton’s fielding improved a lot from their first game and created a lot of pressure in the field.

St Andrews wanted to join Grey College as the only unbeaten teams on day one and got off to a good start against Menlopark. Menlopark batted first and were skittled for 109 runs in 15.3 overs with all of the St Andrews bowlers taking wickets. St Andrews must have thought that they had the game in the bag but Menlopark were not going to give up and they came all out at St Andrews. St Andrews had no response to Menlopark’s bowlers and before long they were 54 all out. Dalen Mmako took 3 wickets for 7 runs, Thinus Viljoen took 3 wickets for 16 and up front Willem Britz took 2 wickets for 5 runs in 4 overs. 

Morning results

Grey College 195/3 (Victor 114) Hilton College 79 all out (Visser 4/13)

Grey won by 116 runs

Volkskool Potchefstroom 84 all out (Lane 3/11) St Andrews Grahamstown 85/1 (Lane 33)

St Andrews won by 9 wickets

Paarl Boys High School 144/4 (Wubbeling 95*) Menlopark 89/8 (Cilliers 2/15)

Paarl won by 55 runs

Afternoon Results

Hilton College 175/3 (Morris 52*, Curtis 47, Jewels 46) Volkskool Potchefstroom 119 all out (5 run outs)
Hilton won by 56 runs

Grey College 150/5 (van Tonder 55) Paarl Boys High 138/7 (du Plessis 56, Swanepoel 3/24)

Grey won by 12 runs

Menlopark 104/9 St Andrews 54 all out (Mmako 3/7, Viljoen 3/16, Britz 2/5)

Menlopark won by 50 runs

Day 2 fixtures

21-Feb	Saturday	9:30 - 12:30	Lions	Knights	Coetzenburg
21-Feb	Saturday	9:30 - 12:30	Titans	Dolphins	Tassies
21-Feb	Saturday	9:30 - 12:30	Cobras	Warriors	Maties 3
21-Feb	Saturday	14:00 - 17:00	Dolphins	Cobras	Coetzenburg
21-Feb	Saturday	14:00 - 17:00	Knights	Warriors	Tassies
21-Feb	Saturday	14:00 - 17:00	Lions	Titans	Maties 3