Nkosana Sibiya made a triumphant return to St John’s College’s first team, contributing an outstanding half-century to lead them to a comfortable six-wicket T20 win over Jeppe on Mitchell Field, at St John’s, on Wednesday.
The coin toss went the hosts’ way, and captain Alec Loveland, elected to bowl first.
That was a good call as Loveland’s bowlers did a fine job of restricting Jeppe to 127/9. St John’s, chasing, then maintained a run-rate above six per over to claim victory after 19 overs, having reached 129/4.
Sibiya had been out of action for 12 weeks with a hip injury. The 17-year-old was initially sidelined for five weeks after picking up the injury during a Jozi Cup match. Unfortunately, in his fourth game back, he reinjured the hip taking a quick single during The Blues’ preseason tour of Sri Lanka.
Recent rains in Johannesburg meant batting on the Mitchell Field pitch was a challenge. Sibiya, however, read the conditions perfectly and clubbed eight fours on his way to a 35-ball 50 that helped The Blues take control of the contest.
If anyone had thought that the opener might be rusty, their doubts were quickly dispelled when Sibiya stamped his authority on proceedings by stroking a four off the second delivery he faced.
With Sibiya setting the tone, St John’s made a sound start, putting up 31 runs for the first wicket before Darshik Lutchman was out. Jeppe pulled things back when Keegan Caxiero accounted for Herman Basson before the number three settled in.
St John’s, though, consolidated and regained control through Sibiya and Loveland, who added 49 off 40 runs for the third wicket.
When Sibiya lost his wicket, St John’s was on 98 and needed another 31 runs from six overs. The odds favoured the home side, and Loveland steered his team home with an unbeaten 36 off 37 balls.
Earlier in the afternoon, Ethan Robinson undermined Jeppe’s batting effort with a brilliant four-wicket haul, which included more dot balls than runs conceded – 16 dot balls and 14 runs.
Jeppe’s captain, Ryan Young, batting at four, led by example, cracking a blistering 21-ball 38 in the middle order.
Unfortunately for the visitors, their top three didn’t contribute much, and the next four batsmen after Young struggled, too. Sipho Potsane, though, provided the visitors with a late boost, striking 32 from 24 balls, but that wasn’t enough to see them to a match-winning total.
Both sides will next be in action in the Oppenheimer Michaelmas Cricket Week, which features 26 of the country’s best teams in action in the KZN Midlands.
Scorecard
Jeppe 127/9 (Ryan Young 38, Sipho Potsane 32*; Ethan Robinson 4/14, David Ireland 2/27). St John’s 129/4 (Nkosana Sibiya 50, Alec Loveland 36*; Munib Ayob 1/6, Sipho Potsane 1/24). St John’s won by six wickets.
