Durban High School‘s (DHS) top order batsmen lit up the Beaumont Eston Farmers Club ground to help their team to a 23-run win over Westville Boys’ High in the Eston One Insurance T20 Night League on Monday.
Last week, the openers, Ismaeel Omar and Ethan Cooper, powered the Blue Typhoon to a 10-wicket win over the three-time defending champion, St Charles College. On Monday night, they convincingly beat the Griffin, whom they had also defeated in the final of the Clifton T20 Tournament to go back-to-back as champions.
Westville skipper Seth Simpson opted to field after winning the toss, but it didn’t pay off as Omar and Cooper posted 67 runs for the first wicket in nine overs. Omar was the first to fall, LBW to Tristan Delvin for 33 from 27 deliveries, with three fours. Unfortunately for Westville, that brought Josh van Biljon to the crease.
He and Ethan Cooper added 27 in just over four overs. Then, Cooper perished, caught by captain Simpson off the spin of Ewan du Toit for 44 from 41, having struck three sixes and a four.
Not even that dismissal slowed DHS down. In fact, with Taine Havermann joining Josh van Biljon in the middle, the run rate rocketed, and together they added 80 in only 6.2 overs.
Havermann’s stay lasted only 15 balls, but they included two sixes and two fours and brought him 29 runs before he fell to a combination of Jamie Hasselbach and left-arm seamer Lwandile Bulose.
Lazlo Jooste was in for just three deliveries, but he chipped in with five runs, while Josh van Biljon remained unbeaten at the end with the main contribution of the innings, 60 from 34 balls, which included eight fours.
Tristan Delvin, with 1/25 from four overs, did well under pressure, while Lwandile Bulose did his job well, too, picking up 1/22 from three.
Unlike DHS’s strong start, Westville’s response stuttered early on. Pace man Bayanda Majola had Kyle McGough caught by Suliman Jadwat for a duck, and Jamie Hasselbach, the other opener, fell to left-arm spinner, Dhilan Naraidu, for four, which left Westville on 6/2 after two overs.
Captain Seth Simpson set about repairing the damage as best he could, delivering an outstanding innings reminiscent of the magnificent knock which powered Westville to victory over DHS in the W100 Series final, at Kingsmead, in February. However, he needed better support than he received.
Misbah Nair did his bit, weighing in with 24 from 26. Apart from that, Aarin Rasmussen, with 11 not out, and Tristan Delvin, with 10, were the next best contributors. That wasn’t enough, despite Simpson’s superb knock.
The Westville skipper faced 59 balls, smashed six of them for six, another four for four, and finished with 83. Still, his team came up 23 runs short of the DHS total.
That had plenty to do with Bayanda Majola, who knocked over 3/11 in four overs, adding the wickets of Misbah Nair and Aiden Baudach to his dismissal of the dangerous Kyle McGough.
Dhilan Naraidu was his usual efficient self with the new ball, claiming 1/24 in four, and Bonga Maphanga took 1/19 in three, claiming the crucial wicket of Seth Simpson.
Scores
Durban High School 178/3 (Josh van Biljon 60*, Ethan Cooper 44, Ismaeel Omar 33, Lwandile Bulose 1/22, Tristan Delvin 1/25, Ewan du Toit 1/35); Westville Boys’ High 155/6 (Seth Simpson 83*, Misbah Nair 24, Bayanda Majola 3/11, Bonga Maphanga 1/19, Dhilan Naraidu 1/24).
Durban High School won by 23 runs.
