{"id":80963,"date":"2025-08-19T12:05:35","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T10:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=80963"},"modified":"2025-08-19T12:05:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T10:05:35","slug":"st-johns-returns-home-from-sri-lanka-tour-on-a-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=80963","title":{"rendered":"St John\u2019s returns home from Sri Lanka tour on a high"},"content":{"rendered":"
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St John’s College began their successful tour with a victory over Wesley College. Photo: Supplied.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A triumphant St John\u2019s College<\/strong> was in high spirits when they touched down at OR Tambo International Airport <\/strong>on Monday evening. The Blues<\/strong> were returning home from a successful 12-day preseason excursion to Sri Lanka that took them to Colombo, Kandy, and Galle, where they won six of their eight matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tour provided not only tough cricket but also a platform to test new combinations, blood younger players, and experience the culture of a proud cricketing nation,\u201d Bongani Ntini<\/strong>, the St John\u2019s coach, told SuperSport Schools Plus<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Blues began their expedition with a three-match series, two 50-over contests and a single T20, against Wesley College<\/strong>, St Peter\u2019s College<\/strong>, and St Joseph\u2019s College<\/strong> in Colombo. Their first assignment was against Wesley, who won the toss and elected to field first.<\/p>\n

Darshik Lutchman<\/strong> lashed a brilliant 59-ball 77 to help The Blues reach 251 in 50 overs. His effort was well-supported by James Yuill<\/strong>\u2019s 39 runs from 47 balls. Alec Loveland<\/strong>, the skipper, and Aiden Barberini<\/strong> bagged two wickets apiece as they bowled St John\u2019s to a thrilling 8-run victory<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, The Blues couldn\u2019t maintain that momentum as they fell to a one-wicket loss to St Peter\u2019s in their second outing. The visitors made 214 in 50 overs batting first, courtesy of half-centuries from Lutchman (55 off 61) and Yuill (55 off 65). However, the milestones were not enough to lead The Blues to an unassailable total.<\/p>\n

Loveland produced his best innings of the tour in the visitors\u2019 first T20 encounter. The captain rinsed a 56-ball 100 to lift The Blues t 183\/6, before Nkosana Sibiya<\/strong>, Malan Du Plessis<\/strong>, and Joshua Nyamaropa<\/strong> took two wickets each, to ensure a commanding 66-run win<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tour was invaluable for building squad depth \u2014 with the squared rotation policy ensuring every player had the chance to make contributions deep into the tour. Even in match seven or eight, energy levels and the will to win remained high,\u201d Ntini explained.<\/p>\n

From Colombo, St John\u2019s headed to Kandy, where they jostled against the RSA Academy<\/strong> and Maliyadeva College<\/strong>. Herman Basson<\/strong> put his all-round skills on display against RSA with a fluent half-century (82 off 61) and a three-wicket haul (3\/32), as The Blues secured a 29-run win.<\/p>\n

With the bat, Basson was supported by Aiden Barberini<\/strong>, who thrashed an unbeaten 89 (113), as he shepherded St John\u2019s to 254 in 50 overs. Connor van der Walt complimented<\/strong> Basson with the ball with 3\/30 in eight overs.<\/p>\n

Maliyadeva put The Blues on trial by spin in their fourth 50-over fixture. However, despite their best efforts, including some resistance with the bat, Maliyadeva made light work of the total set by St John\u2019s and registered a comfortable seven-wicket victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe match against Maliyadeva proved to be a crucial learning experience about playing quality spin in subcontinental conditions,\u201d Ntini reflected.<\/p>\n

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The Blues conquered Galle. They didn’t lose a match in the region. Photo: Supplied.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From Kandy, The Blues headed to Galle, where they played Richmond College<\/strong> in a 50-over tie and then duelled with Foundation of Goodness<\/strong> and Holy Cross College<\/strong> in T20 encounters.<\/p>\n

Basson showed his quality with the bat again with a well-played half-century, 53 off 82, on a tough wicket as he guided The Blues to a six-wicket win over Richmond. Joshua Hall <\/strong>ensured that an end remained intact with a patient 58-ball 38 in the chase. St John\u2019s victory was set up by David Ireland<\/strong>\u2019s outstanding bowling spell that produced three wickets for 31 runs in 10 overs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tour allowed younger players to gain confidence without the immediate pressure of local rivalries, while combinations for the coming season were tested with success,\u201d Ntini said.<\/p>\n

Conquering tough conditions against Richmond gave St John\u2019s confidence as they went into their last two matches. Lwazi Khupe<\/strong> (3\/19) and Ireland (2\/18) took five wickets between them as The Blues bundled Foundation of Goodness out for 119 in a T20 tie. Michael Stubbs<\/strong> then lashed a 16-ball 30 as St John\u2019s raced to a four-wicket victory.<\/p>\n

The match against Holy Cross was supposed to be a 50-over encounter; however, it was reduced to 20 overs a side due to conditions. Hall starred with the bat, spanking an unbeaten 68 from 43 balls as he steered The Blues to 161.<\/p>\n

Basson and Barberini, who both returned figures of 2\/17, dictated terms during Holy Cross\u2019 chase as they helped St John\u2019s close the tour with a 25-run win.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeyond the matches, the squad also enjoyed valuable educational excursions that gave the boys deep insight into the humility, care, and generosity of the Sri Lankan people. They learned vital life lessons: the boys were humbled by the generosity, love, and respect of a community that, despite not having much materially, gave selflessly at every opportunity,\u201d Ntini shared.<\/p>\n

The Blues will put the skills they sharpened and learned during their tour in their first local assignment,\u00a0the Fasken Two-Day Festival <\/strong>on the 28th of August, where they face Clifton and Nelspruit. After that, they will head to KwaZulu-Natal for the Michaelmas Festival <\/strong>from 4\u20137 October. <\/strong>Michaelmas will be\u00a0the final showcase for this year\u2019s matric group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A triumphant St John\u2019s College was in high spirits when they touched down at OR Tambo International Airport on Monday evening. The Blues were returning home from a successful 12-day preseason excursion to Sri Lanka that took them to Colombo, Kandy, and Galle, where they won six of their eight matches. \u201cThe tour provided not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":80965,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80963","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\/80963","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\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/80965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}