{"id":86715,"date":"2025-11-16T13:41:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T11:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=86715"},"modified":"2025-11-16T13:41:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T11:41:18","slug":"ben-vorster-dethrones-merensky-as-limpopo-schools-sa20-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=86715","title":{"rendered":"Ben Vorster dethrones Merensky as Limpopo Schools SA20 champion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"187\" data-end=\"425\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-63206\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/cricket-ball-generic-250125-400x267.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" \/><strong>Ho\u00ebrskool Ben Vorster<\/strong> came out on top in a Tzaneen derby to dethrone<strong> Merensky Landbou Akademie<\/strong> as the champion of the Limpopo region in the <strong>Switch Schools SA20<\/strong> <strong>&#8211; Volume Two<\/strong> competition on Saturday, at <strong>Stanford Lake College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"187\" data-end=\"425\">Relive all the action on <strong>SuperSport Schools<\/strong> &#8211; <strong>(www.supersportschools.com)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"427\" data-end=\"828\">Heavy rain was forecast for Saturday after wet conditions on Friday, but the semi-finals were, nonetheless, able to be played on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Across the three matches &#8211; semi-finals and final &#8211; batting proved to be a difficult challenge. Only in one of them was the 100-run mark topped, with both Stanford Lake College and Merensky Landbou reaching three figures in their semi-final showdown.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"830\" data-end=\"1175\">The hosts posted 109\/7 in their 20 overs, led by <strong data-start=\"889\" data-end=\"907\">Joshua Doolabh<\/strong>, who top-scored with 25. <strong data-start=\"944\" data-end=\"966\">Topher Elphinstone<\/strong>\u00a0starred for the <em><strong>Plasies<\/strong>, <\/em>returning an economical 2\/13. <strong data-start=\"1072\" data-end=\"1085\">Vir Patel<\/strong>, with 2\/16, and <strong data-start=\"1097\" data-end=\"1113\">Waldo Mouton<\/strong>, with 2\/26, also chipped in with useful spells.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Cricket Final - Merensky vs Ben Vorster - Switch Schools SA20 - 15 November 2025\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DLLvA_-U0i0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1177\" data-end=\"1375\">In the challenging batting conditions, 110 looked a tough target. However, <strong data-start=\"1235\" data-end=\"1252\">Muhammed Khan<\/strong> controlled the chase superbly, striking an unbeaten 30, to guide Merensky to an eight-wicket victory and into the final.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1377\" data-end=\"1867\">Ben Vorster faced the <strong>Mohodi Hub<\/strong> in the other semi-final. The Hub XI batted first and struggled to contain the <em><strong>Vossies<\/strong><\/em>&#8216; <strong data-start=\"1536\" data-end=\"1553\">Talent Ndlovu<\/strong> and <strong data-start=\"1558\" data-end=\"1578\">Sontag Ramatsona<\/strong>. Ndlovu captured 3\/20, while Ramatsona snapped up 2\/10 as Mohodi was restricted to just 77\/9 in their 20 overs.<\/p>\n<p>Vossies came under some pressure, chasing only 80 for victory, when <strong data-start=\"1704\" data-end=\"1724\">Mahlodi Sekuba <\/strong>knocked over 3\/16, but Ramatsona followed up his strong bowling performance with a match-winning 26 to see Ben Vorster to a five-wicket win.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1869\" data-end=\"2159\">That set up a third meeting between Ben Vorster and Merensky this season. In the previous matches between the rivals, the Plasies had dominated, securing a comfortable win in the 50-over league and a 12-run victory in the round-robin stage of the Schools SA20.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2161\" data-end=\"2365\">This time, however, the tables were turned. Ramatsona, full of confidence, produced a match-defining spell, grabbing a telling 3\/8. Ndlovu, reliable as ever, claimed 2\/11 as Merensky was limited to only 79\/9 from their 20 overs.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2367\" data-end=\"2699\">Once again, Ben Vorster&#8217;s run chase began shakily, with an early run out upsetting their progress. <strong data-start=\"2478\" data-end=\"2494\">Dirk Nortman<\/strong>, promoted from the u15 ranks, rose to the occasion, however, demonstrating impressive maturity in scoring 37 not out to see Vossies to victory by seven wickets.<\/p>\n<p>At the other end of the pitch, <strong data-start=\"2601\" data-end=\"2615\">Ruben Pohl <\/strong>finished with 14 not out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Summarised scorecards<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Final\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Merensky Landbou Akademie 79\/9\u00a0<\/strong>(JP Botha 14; Sontag Ramatsona 3\/8, Talent Ndlovu 2\/11);\u00a0<strong>Ben Vorster 82\/3\u00a0<\/strong>(Dirk Nortman 37*; Topher Elphinstone 1\/14). <strong>Ben Vorster won by seven wickets.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Semi-Final 1\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Mohodi Hub 77\u00a0<\/strong>(Sello Mabitsela 12; Talent Ndlovu 3\/20, Sontag Ramatsona 2\/10); <strong>Ben Vorster 78\/5\u00a0<\/strong>(Sontag Ramatsona 26; Mahlodi Sekuba 3\/16). <strong>Ben Vorster won by five wickets.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Semi Final 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Stanford Lake College 109\/7\u00a0<\/strong>(Joshua Doolabh 25; Topher Elphinstone 2\/13, Vir Patel 2\/16, Waldo Mouton 2\/26); <strong>Merensky Landbou Akademie 110\/2\u00a0<\/strong>(Muhammed Khan 30*, Logan Janse van Rensburg 25, Waldo Mouton 23; Thatego Molokomme 1\/16). <strong>Merensky Landbou Akademie won by eight wickets. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ho\u00ebrskool Ben Vorster came out on top in a Tzaneen derby to dethrone Merensky Landbou Akademie as the champion of the Limpopo region in the Switch Schools SA20 &#8211; Volume Two competition on Saturday, at Stanford Lake College. Relive all the action on SuperSport Schools &#8211; (www.supersportschools.com) Heavy rain was forecast for Saturday after wet [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":63206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86715","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\/86715","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/63206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}