{"id":84756,"date":"2025-10-12T08:21:36","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T06:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=84756"},"modified":"2025-10-12T08:21:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T06:21:36","slug":"ward-leads-clifton-to-win-over-st-charles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=84756","title":{"rendered":"Ward leads Clifton to win over St Charles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--StartFragment --><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_84760\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-84760\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-84760\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cricket-clifton-byron-ward-111025-400x300.jpg\" alt=\"Byron Ward starred for Clifton in their win over St Charles, playing a well-judged, match-winning innings. Photo: Brad Morgan.\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-84760\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Byron Ward starred for Clifton in their win over St Charles, playing a well-judged, match-winning innings. Photo: Brad Morgan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\"><strong>St Charles College<\/strong> visited the <strong>Riverside Sports Club<\/strong> on Saturday for a limited overs clash against <strong>Clifton College<\/strong>. After a composed performance, the home team came away with a composed four-wicket victory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\"><em><strong>Saints<\/strong><\/em> won the toss and opted to bat first. They lost <strong>Matthew <\/strong><\/span><strong><span class=\"cf0\">Weightman<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"cf0\"> early, but <strong>Christiaan Prinsloo<\/strong> and <strong>Caleb Sharp<\/strong> partnered for 51 runs for the second wicket before Sharp was caught and bowled by left-arm spinner <strong>Blake Johnson<\/strong> for 31. He had spent 42 balls at the crease and hit four fours.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">While Prinsloo played a patient knock, <strong>Connor Simpson<\/strong> gave the innings some impetus with his 25, before Prinsloo became the fifth man to fall with the total on 134. He had contributed 40 off 73 deliveries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A minor collapse followed, with Saints being reduced to 147\/7 before <strong>Ryan Clarke<\/strong> and <strong>Keegan <\/strong><strong><span class=\"cf0\">Vermaak<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"cf0\"> put on 25 for the ninth wicket. Clarke was, then, the man to go, caught by <strong>Muhammed Malek<\/strong> off of <strong>Blake Johnson<\/strong> for the highest score of the innings, 45. It had taken only 40 balls and included six fours. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">Vermaak<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> did a good job of leading a 27-run partnership for the last wicket, but he was the last to go, run out by Tim <\/span><strong><span class=\"cf0\">Saulez<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"cf0\">,<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> for 25. <strong>Connor Vogt<\/strong> ended with 10 runs to his name as St Charles totalled 216 all out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">The Clifton attack was, for the most part, tidy. <strong>Caleb Naicker<\/strong> returned the best figures of 3\/28 from 8.4 overs, which included the wickets of both opening batsmen, while <strong>Shiraz Perumal<\/strong> clamped down on the Saints&#8217; batsmen, returning the most economical figures of 2\/28 from 10. Blake Johnson also bowled well, picking up 2\/34 from his 10.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">Needing to bat at 4.34 runs per over to win, Clifton made a good start, with the openers, Muhammed Malek and <strong>Cohen Naidoo<\/strong>, making 54 for the first wicket. Malek was then trapped in front by Keegan <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Vermaak<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> for 15 and five runs later he was followed by Naidoo, caught off the bowling of Ryan Clarke for 28.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Byron Ward<\/strong> and Tim <span class=\"cf0\">Saulez<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> steadied the innings, though, taking the total to 100 before <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Saulez<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> became <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Vermaak&#8217;s<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> second victim, out for 17. Ward, meanwhile, was in the groove and, with a useful 14 from <strong>Hayden <\/strong><\/span><strong><span class=\"cf0\">Drieselmann<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"cf0\"> he helped to advance the total by another 49 runs before <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Drieselmann<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> exited.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">Ward fell on 168, the fifth wicket to go down, caught off the bowling of <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Vermaak<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> for a difference-making 58 from 51 deliveries, which featured three sixes and six fours. During his time at the crease, Clifton had added 109 runs. With Ward&#8217;s dismissal, it was important for Clifton to maintain their momentum without losing any more wickets quickly. They aced that test.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Shiraz Perumal and <strong>Lawson Dinsdale<\/strong> added 48, which tied the scores. But there was a final twist, with Perumal going out on 216, caught off <strong>Rowen Rajah<\/strong> for a run-a-ball 29, which included five fours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">Dinsdale and Caleb Naicker then saw Clifton to victory after 42.3 overs. They had batted at 5.11 per over to get to 217\/6, with Dinsdale unbeaten on 19.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">Keegan <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Vermaak<\/span><span class=\"cf0\">, although a touch expensive, was the pick of the St Charles&#8217; bowlers, returning 3\/52 from eight overs, while Ryan Clarke kept it tidy, claiming 1\/37 from 10.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Saints, though, did themselves no favours by conceding a massive 36 extras, 23 of which were wides. Clifton, by contrast, bowled only nine wides and gave up 12 extras.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Scores<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>St Charles College 216\/10<\/strong> (Ryan Clarke 45, Christiaan Prinsloo 40, Caleb Sharp 31, Connor Simpson 25, Keegan <span class=\"cf0\">Vermaak<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> 25; Caleb Naicker 3\/28, Shiraz Perumal 2\/28, Blake Johnson 2\/34); <strong>Clifton College 217\/6<\/strong> (Byron Ward 51, Extras 36, Shiraz Perumal 29, Cohen Naidoo 28; Keegan <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Vermaak<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> 3\/52).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Clifton College won by four wickets<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><!--EndFragment --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>St Charles College visited the Riverside Sports Club on Saturday for a limited overs clash against Clifton College. After a composed performance, the home team came away with a composed four-wicket victory. Saints won the toss and opted to bat first. They lost Matthew Weightman early, but Christiaan Prinsloo and Caleb Sharp partnered for 51 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":84760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84756","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\/84756","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=84756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/84760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}