Three Sides Remain Unbeaten on Day 1 of the Cricket South Africa Schools T20 Challenge

The 11^th CSA Schools T20 Challenge national finals tournament got under way at the LC De Villers complex at the University of Pretoria on Friday.

Eight schools, representing the six CSA franchises, along with the winners of a parallel process involving the CSA Focus Schools programmes in the inland and coastal regions, have been divided into two pools. They play three pool games, followed by two cross-pool games, after which the two teams with the most points will meet in the final on Sunday afternoon.

At the end of the first day three sides, the defending champions St Stithians, Waterkloof and SACS had won two games out of two. St Stithians beat Queens and St Andrew’s; Waterkloof defeated St Andrew’s and Queens; and SACS beat Grey High and Graeme College.

There is a lot of cricket still to be played, but those three did look like the form sides on day one. Saturday morning’s clash between St Stithians and Waterkloof is going to be decisive in pool A, while SACS take on Kearsney in what could be the Pool B decider.

As far as individual performances are concerned, there were two half centuries scored. SW Kemp of Waterkloof made 59 against Queens and Jody de Sousa got 58 for St Stithians against St Andrew’s. Joshua Voight was 45 not out for Grey High against Kearsney

Kemp was also one of those who shone with the ball. He took 3/14 against St Andrew’s in the morning. Two other bowlers took three wickets each. Liam McCarthy took 3/5 for St Stithians against Queens and Kyle Welman took 3/17 for Waterkloof against St Andrew’s.

Man of the Match

Morning Games

St Stithians (Lions) - Liam McCarthy (3/5), Waterkloof (Titans) - Simeon de Bruyn (39 off 27 and 1/25), Kearsney (Dolphins) - Matthew McMurray (2/19), SACS (Cobras) - Nathan Ansell (3/18)

Afternoon Games

St Stithians (Lions) - Jodi de Sousa (58), Waterkloof (Titans) SW - Kemp (44 and 3/27), Graeme College (Coastal Focus School) - Aphiwe Mnyanda (3/25), Grey High (Warriors) - Joshua Voight (45 off 22 balls).

Summarised Scores

Morning Games

St Stithians (Lions) 85/4 (Reuben du Toit 22, Nhlanhla Ntleko 2/26) Queens High School (Inland Focus School) 84 (Nhlanhla Ntleko 33; Liam McCarthy 3/6, Reuben van Tonder 2/4) St Stithians won by 6 wickets.

Waterkloof (Titans) 124/7 (Simeon de Bruyn 37 not out; Jayden Davids 2/22, Matthew Davids 2/36, Tristan Wylie 2/34) St Andrew’s (Knights) 98/8 (JD Bruwer 40, SW Kemp 3/14, Kyle Welman 3/17) Waterkloof won by 26 runs.

Kearsney (Dolphins) 112/3 (Louis Nel 30, Jean-Luc Talbot 29 (not out). Graeme College (Coastal Focus School) 111/7 (Ryan Bush 45; Matthew McMurray 2/19, Dean Gibbs 2/20) Kearsney won by 7 wickets.

SACS (Cobras) 136/7 (Kai Curran 47, La'eeq Cooper 24; Elish Thorne 2/31) Grey High (Warriors) 79 (Jade Smith 24; Nathan Ansell 3/8, Oscar Welsh 2/13) SACS won by 57 runs.

Afternoon Games

St Stithians 143/3 (Ruben du Toit 38, Jody de Sousa 58). St Andrew’s 87 (Tristan Wylie 22; Tandua Chanaikra 3/16). St Stithians won by 56 runs.

SACS 138/9 (Michael Levitt 37, Nathan Ansell 29). Graeme College 63 (Judah Banwell 2/8, Matthew Klusener 2/14). SACS won by 75 runs.

Grey High 137/8 (Joshua Voight 45 not out, Daniel Ristow 29). Kearsney College 94/7 (Rubin Rheeder 19; Nicholas Keevy 2/3). Grey High won by 43 runs.

Waterkloof 162/6 (SW Kemp 59, Zander Maree 39; Lucky Ntleko 2/26). Queens High 86/7 (Simo Potlewa 23; Simeon de Bruyn 2/9). Waterkloof won by 76 runs.