Cape Town-based Rondebosch Boys
High and St Albans College from Pretoria have qualified to represent the Cobras
and Titans at the Coca-Cola Schools T20 Challenge National Finals in March.
Rondebosch took on Outeniqua High
School and Paul Roos Gymnasium in the Cobras Coca-Cola Schools T20 Challenge
Franchise Finals at their home ground on Saturday, 23 January 2018. Outeniqua
Paul Roos were no match for a well drilled Rondebosch team who had stand out
performances by Reese Scheepers with the ball, Justin Broad and Quinton Oordt
with the bat, and their wicket keeper Ethan Nates who made 3 stumpings and 2
runouts.
St Albans College were crowned
the Titans franchise champions after beating Marais Viljoen High School.
Marais Viljoen won the toss and
decided to bat first. The opening partnership of Neil Bothma (33 off 13 balls)
and Liam Murphy (30 off 16 balls) got them off to a fast start. At one stage
they had 62 runs off 5 overs. St Albans did not let the fast start get to them
and started taking wickets at short intervals. Marais Viljoen only managed to
add another 74 runs in the next 15 over to post 136/7. Like Marais Viljoen, St
Albans openers got them off to a good start and chased down 137 to win in in
15.4 overs with the loss of only 3 wickets.
During the two franchise finals,
four players were selected to be part of the Coca-Cola T20 All-Star Team to
take on the Cricket South Africa Development team at national finals. The new
addition of the Coca-Cola Schools T20 Challenge is aimed at spreading the
talent search net wider and will see a team of cricket experts attend all
franchise finals in search of outstanding players in the teams that do not
qualify for the national finals.
Outeniqua's all-rounder, Matthew Thorn's
and Paul Roos’ batsman, Rudi Klaasen were selected during the Cobras Franchise
Finals. Thorn’s performance with bat and ball and Klaasen’s batting display
throughout the day impressed the Coca-Cola T20 All-Star selectors, earning them
a spot in the team.
“I have mixed emotions today, on
the one hand I am very happy that I was picked for the All-Star team but on the
other hand I would have loved it if my school had qualified for the National
Finals. It is now up to me to represent my school in a curtain-raiser at the
Coca-Cola Schools T20 Challenge Finals," said Matthew Thorn.
During the Titans Franchise
Finals, Neil Bothma and Khaya Nyamathe from Marais Viljoen were selected for
the Coca-Cola T20 All-Star team.
"It is a real honour to be
picked to play in the Coca-Cola T20All-Star team. I am disappointed that we
lost today but I am happy that cricket won the day," said Khaya Nyamathe.
Neil Bothma, Khaya Nyamathe,
Matthew Thorn and Rudi Klaasen join Mason Zacharea and Reeza Alexander, Matthew
Montgomery and Simon Holmes in the Coca-Cola T20 All-Star team.
To engage with the tournament
online, search #WhereHeroesAreMade on Twitter or visit @CocaCola_ZA and
@OfficialCSA
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