{"id":62449,"date":"2025-01-14T13:13:43","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T11:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=62449"},"modified":"2025-01-14T13:13:43","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T11:13:43","slug":"pietermaritzburg-set-to-host-kzn-schools-sa20-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=62449","title":{"rendered":"Pietermaritzburg set to host KZN Schools SA20 finals"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Maritzburg
Maritzburg College will play two of their three Schools SA20 round-robin matches on Goldstone’s. Photo: Brad Morgan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 2025 schools’ cricket season in KwaZulu-Natal hits the ground running with the final round of the province’s Schools SA20<\/strong> matches being contested in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday and Friday.<\/p>\n

Four boys’ schools – Northwood<\/strong>, Glenwood<\/strong>, Hilton College<\/strong>, and Maritzburg College<\/strong> – will be in action, while Dr JL Dube<\/strong> and Bongi Hlanhla<\/strong>, who have already booked their place in the girls’ final, face off on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

Check out DStv Channel 216 and the SuperSport Schools<\/a> App<\/a> for live coverage of the Schools SA20<\/strong><\/p>\n

The boys’ sides are the top two finishers from the Dolphins<\/strong>‘ and Tuskers<\/strong>‘ regions and it was the coastal region’s Northwood and Glenwood who showed just how unpredictable the T20 game can be. Overall, teams like Westville<\/strong>, Kearsney<\/strong>, Clifton<\/strong>, and Durban High School (DHS)<\/strong>, enjoyed more consistent seasons, but when the chips were down, the Knights<\/strong><\/em> and the Green Machine<\/strong> <\/em>rose to the challenge.<\/p>\n

If anything, it was Northwood who surprised more because they suffered a late-season dip in form. However, credit to them, they delivered the performances and the results they needed to comfortably overcome Clifton and Glenwood. Clifton had accounted for a dangerous DHS team, which won the Clifton T20<\/strong><\/a> in the first term, earlier in the competition.<\/p>\n

Recently, at the Grey Festival<\/strong> in Bloemfontein, Northwood scored wins over Selborne College<\/strong> and St Andrew’s School<\/strong> in T20 clashes but went down to Ho\u00ebr Volkskool Potchefstroom<\/strong> (Volkies)<\/strong> in a two-day contest. Based on their end-of-year results and their start to 2025, the Knights appear better equipped in the shorter format of the game.<\/p>\n

Their line-up also has a very familiar look to it, with the majority of last year’s 1st XI returning in 2025. That experience will, no doubt, stand them in good stead.<\/p>\n

Glenwood showed typical grit to hold on for a draw in their two-day match against Menlopark <\/strong>in Bloemfontein, but they suffered T20 losses to Volkies<\/strong><\/em> and Grey College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

They’ve bade some long-time stars farewell, including Bandile Mbatha<\/strong> and Ntando Soni<\/strong>, who were both selected for the SA u19 ODI squad<\/strong> <\/a>after Cricket South Africa’s Cubs Week. However, like Northwood, they bring back many players.<\/p>\n

In Bloemfontein, their batsmen struggled with consistency, and their batting will be the key to their challenge. They have experience in the top order, but those players will need to deliver.<\/p>\n

Hilton College<\/strong>, meanwhile, produced mixed results at the Peninsula Cricket Festival<\/strong> in Cape Town. The fact of the matter, though, is that schools from outside of the Western Cape have found it extremely challenging playing the early-season event over the past couple of years.<\/p>\n

They were soundly beaten by SACS<\/strong> and Rondebosch<\/strong>, but scored a narrow win over Pretoria Boys High<\/strong> and cruised to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Wynberg<\/strong> in their last outing.<\/p>\n

Again, look down their team list and there are many players with considerable 1st XI experience. Hilton, too, has demonstrated a sound understanding of how to play the T20 game, and that should stand them in good stead at Maritzburg College.\u00a0They beat College in the Tuskers’ final<\/strong><\/a> by putting up a solid 160\/7 against a College team that enjoys strong bowling depth.<\/p>\n

The bigger question for the Red, Black, and White<\/strong> <\/em>lies on the batting side where some leading run producers, including SA Schools<\/strong>‘ all-rounder Chad Mason, opening batsman Llewellyn Sutherland, Oliver da Costa, and Michael Gibson, need to be replaced.\u00a0At the Ihlobo Festival<\/strong>, College showed, though, that they bat all the way down the order, and they were twice able to overcome slow starts to defeat Kearsney College<\/strong> and St John’s College (Harare)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Will playing two of their three matches at home afford them an additional boost? Hilton beat them at Hilton in the Tuskers’ final, but whether in cricket or rugby, Goldstone’s usually serves Maritzburg College well, and that’s where they will meet Hilton this time around.<\/p>\n

FIXTURES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thursday, 16 January, 09:00<\/strong><\/p>\n

Northwood vs Hilton College, Maritzburg Oval
\nGlenwood vs Maritzburg College, Goldstone’s<\/p>\n

Thursday, 16 January, 13:30<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maritzburg College vs Northwood, Maritzburg Oval
\nHilton College vs Glenwood, Goldstone’s<\/p>\n

Friday, 17 January, 09:00<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr JL Dube vs Bonginhlanhla, Maritzburg Oval
\nHilton College vs Maritzburg College, Goldstone’s
\nGlenwood vs Northwood, Barns’<\/p>\n

Friday, 17 January, 13:30<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. 1 vs No. 2, Maritzburg Oval<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2025 schools’ cricket season in KwaZulu-Natal hits the ground running with the final round of the province’s Schools SA20 matches being contested in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday and Friday. Four boys’ schools – Northwood, Glenwood, Hilton College, and Maritzburg College – will be in action, while Dr JL Dube and Bongi Hlanhla, who have already […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":62451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/62451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}