{"id":88137,"date":"2026-01-05T19:17:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T17:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=88137"},"modified":"2026-01-05T19:17:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T17:17:45","slug":"northern-champions-remain-unbeaten-as-cubs-week-heats-up-in-stellenbosch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=88137","title":{"rendered":"Northern Champions remain unbeaten as Cubs Week heats up in Stellenbosch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-88139\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TL_2502378-400x298.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"298\" \/>STELLENBOSCH. \u2013 The <strong>Northern Champions<\/strong> will enter the penultimate day of <strong>Cricket South Africa<\/strong>&#8216;s <strong>Cubs Week<\/strong> (for u19 teams) as the only unbeaten side.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, it was once again the team&#8217;s tail-enders, <strong>Mohammed Rasool<\/strong> (75) and <strong>Xander Venter<\/strong> (51), who played a decisive role in a victory over the <strong>Central Gladiators<\/strong>. The pair shared a partnership of 93 runs for the seventh wicket to help their team finish on 207\/8.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, the duo steered their team to a win over the <strong>Coastal Conquerors<\/strong> with a partnership of 105 runs for the eighth wicket.<\/p>\n<p>The Gladiators are still searching for a first victory after the first three days of the event. Despite the defeat, the team&#8217;s <strong>Christian Sabela<\/strong> (3\/20) and <strong>Kyle Butler<\/strong> (2\/29) can be satisfied with their bowling performances.<\/p>\n<p>Chasing 208 to win, The Gladiators were restricted to just 127 all out, with Wade McQuinn (55*) providing lonely resistance. The Champions&#8217; <strong>Kamogelo Matlala<\/strong> (2\/22), <strong>Xander Venter<\/strong> (2\/24), and <strong>Nico Loggenberg<\/strong> (2\/24) did most of the damage.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Coastal Conquerors<\/strong> got back onto the winning track, handing the Western Legends a six-wicket loss. The heroes for the KwaZulu-Natal team were <strong>Joshua van Biljon<\/strong> (95*) and <strong>Bonga Mapanga<\/strong> (72*), who shared an unbeaten partnership of 149 runs for the fifth wicket.<\/p>\n<p>The Legends scored 224\/9 in their 50 overs, with <strong>Eduard Dreyer<\/strong> (54), <strong>Caiden Seleka<\/strong> (35), and <strong>Christian Kind<\/strong> (31) doing most of the talking with the bat.<\/p>\n<p><strong>South Africa u19<\/strong> fast bowler <strong>Dayalan Boyce<\/strong> (3\/30) and leg spinner <strong>Shiraz Perumal<\/strong> (3\/45) each dismissed three Legends&#8217; batsmen.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Eastern Warriors<\/strong> caused a bit of an upset when they ended the <strong>Southern Superstars<\/strong>&#8216; unbeaten run, winning by 19 runs.<\/p>\n<p>The Warriors batted first at <strong>Tassies Oval<\/strong> and posted 207\/8 thanks to solid contributions from <strong>Cayden Wilson<\/strong> (71*), <strong>Dawid Vermaak<\/strong> (43), and <strong>Samuel Scheckter<\/strong> (31).<\/p>\n<p>The team from the Eastern Cape then tightened the screws with their spinner <strong>Sulaymaan Gangat<\/strong> (5\/35) claiming a five-for.<\/p>\n<p>The Superstars were bowled out for just 188. Gangat received good support from <strong>Luphelo Mdyesha<\/strong> (3\/26).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Summarised scorecards<\/p>\n<p>Northern Champions 207\/8<\/strong> (Mohammed Rasool 75, Xander Venter 51, Christian Sabela 3\/20, Kyle Butler 2\/29); <strong>Central Gladiators 127\/10<\/strong> (Wade McQuinn 55, Kamogelo Matlala 2\/22, Xander Venter 2\/24, Nico Loggenberg 2\/24). <strong>Northern Champions won by 80 runs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Western Legends 224\/9<\/strong> (Eduardo Dreyer 54, Caiden Seleka 35, Christian Kind 31, Dayalan Boyce 3\/30, Shiraz Perumal 3\/45); <strong>Coastal Conquerors 227\/4<\/strong> (Joshua van Biljon 95*, Bonga Mapanga 72, Thandolwethu Zama 22, Faizaan Kajee 2\/30). <strong>Coastal Conquerors won by six wickets<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Eastern Warriors 207\/8<\/strong> (Cayden Wilson 71*, Dawid Vermaak 43, Samuel Scheckter 31, Timothy Short 3\/20, Sherwin Plaatjies 2\/33, Taywin Adams 2\/41); <strong>Southern Superstars 188\/10<\/strong> (Gideon du Toit 34, Taywin Adams 23, Timothy Short 22, Michail Tarentaal 22, Daniel Cooke 21, Sulaymaan Gangat 5\/35Luphelo Mdyesha 3\/26). <strong>Eastern Warriors won by 19 runs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>STELLENBOSCH. \u2013 The Northern Champions will enter the penultimate day of Cricket South Africa&#8216;s Cubs Week (for u19 teams) as the only unbeaten side. On Monday, it was once again the team&#8217;s tail-enders, Mohammed Rasool (75) and Xander Venter (51), who played a decisive role in a victory over the Central Gladiators. The pair shared [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88139,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88137","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\/88137","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=88137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/88139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}