Rondebosch and St Albans make it to the national finals of the Coca-Cola Schools T20 Challenge

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

RONDEBOSCH WIN COCA-COLA T20 SCHOOLS CHALLENGE

Rondebosch Boys' High School are the 2013 Coca-Cola T20 Schools Challenge champions.  They beat Waterkloof by 10 runs in the final at Newlands on Sunday to take home the  R110 000 in prize money and the title of top school in the country in the twenty over format.

Six schools, representing the Cricket South Africa franchises have been in action in Stellenbosch over the past three days, with Rondebosch (Cobras) and Waterkloof (Titans) topping the coastal and inland pools, respectively, to advance to the final.

All the schools involved - the others being St Stithians (Lions), Westville (Dolphins), St Andrew's (Knights) and Framesby (Warriors) - earned        R66 000 in prize money for reaching this stage of the competition.  Winnings are to be spent on cricket facilities and equipment at their schools.

The final was a low-scoring affair as the big Newlands outfield made for fewer runs than  were scored on the smaller Maties grounds in the earlier stages.

Rondebosch batted first and could only get 112/8 in their 20 overs. Zubayr Hamza was their top scorer, with 50.

It looked well short of a winning total, but the Rondebsoch bowlers rose to the occasion. Dayyan Galiem was outstanding, taking 3/15 in his four overs, and the rest of the attack assisted in keeping Waterkloof's run-rate down.

The Pretoria side lost wickets at regular intervals and as the pressure mounted they started going for big hits that were never on. This led to them losing their last four wickets for just 10 runs and they ended up all out, 10 runs short of the target with one over to go.

The man of the match in the final was Zubayr Hanza for his 50 runs off 43 balls, while the player of the series award went to Matthew Christensen, also of Rondebosch, who was the top runs-scorer at the event, making 232 runs in the five games he played.

“Words fail me.  It was a great team effort.  We have worked hard and winning this tournament was the cherry on the top,” said 16 year old Christensen, who is hoping his performance will get him into the Western Province team that will compete in the Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Cricket Week taking place in December 2013.

Scores

Rondebosch 112/8 (Commins 20, Hamza 20; Pretorius 2/20, Vorstman 2/20, Grobbelaaar 2/17). Waterkloof 102 all out  (Van Rensburg 26, Rossuw 13, Vorstman 24; Galiem 3/15, Sader 2/21, Skovaard-Petersen 2/19, Stevens 2/27). Rondebosch won by 10 runs.