Victory for Grey in national T20 finals

It was a wonderful day for Grey High and a difficult one for Graeme College on the opening day of the Coca-Cola Schools T20 National Finals in Pretoria yesterday as Grey won their opening two games and Graeme lost both of theirs. In arguably the match of the day, Warriors representatives Grey claimed a superb six-wicket win over Lions reps KES. Batting first, KES made their way to an imposing 174/7 in their 20 overs. Grey bowlers Tristan van Breda and Tiaan van Vuuren struck early before KES fought back from 38/3. Arend Visser 3/23 was the pick of the Grey bowlers along with Van Breda (2/24). The Grey reply was a brilliant all-round effort from the top six, who took them to a fantastic victory that sees them top of pool A after two games. LJ du Preez (27) and Luke Beaufort (29) got them off to a flyer and captain Tristan Stubbs guided his side home with an unbeaten 51 off 42 balls. Tiaan van Vuuren (28) added some valuable runs, but it was arguably Cody Posthumus who swung the game in Grey's favour.

In the 16th over, with Grey needing 48 off 27 balls, Posthumus slammed Ian Crawshaw for three successive sixes to cut the deficit to 30 off 24 balls. The second ball of the next over Posthumus hammered Obakeng Maila (3/25), for his fourth boundary in a row, but he then died by the sword with the next delivery nicking it behind to fall for 29 off 10 balls (3x6; 2x4). However, the damage was already done, allowing Nicholas Fowler (10no), to join his captain at the crease and ease themselves over the line with three balls to spare. Coastal Focus School reps Graeme were comfortably beaten by eight wickets by Titans champs St Albans in the afternoon. Graeme managed a decent 118/5 after a poor start of 42/4. But captain Mark Amm then played a superb knock, batting until the final over while scoring 59 off 43 balls (5x4; 2x6) and sharing in an 81-run partnership with Siphesihle Madlongolwana (19). Graeme then reduced St Albans to 37/2 in the chase, but that was as good as it got as the hosts cruised home for an eight-wicket win. In the morning’s opening matches Grey claimed a 24-run win over St Albans, while Graeme were soundly beaten by 112 runs by KES.