31 August 2023
It was the turn of Michaelhouse and Westville Boys’ High to do T20 battle on Thursday at Eston in a One Insurance Night League clash. On a good batting wicket, the Griffin did a good job of restricting House’s boundary hitting, which proved to be the difference between the two sides, as Westville secured a comfortable seven-wicket victory, with 29 balls in hand.
The boys from Balgowan were out in the middle first and Seb Hofmeyr sent the first ball of the innings to the boundary. However, opening bowler Heath Stott had the last laugh when he had Hofmeyr caught behind after the opener flashed at a wide delivery that nipped away from him in that same over.
Bowling from the other end, captain Nicandro Kistna did a fine job of restricting the Michaelhouse scoring. He didn’t pick up any wickets, but four overs of off-spin at a cost of just 19 runs in T20 cricket is a neat return.
Smooth progress
Still, the two left-handers, West Mitchell-Innes and Dylan Hewlett, did a solid job of keeping the scoreboard ticking over. In the seventh over, they took the total past fifty. Ater 10 overs, they were comfortably poised on 79 for 1.
Soon, though, their partnership came to an end. A slight moment of hesitation before coming back for a second run saw Mitchell-Innes run out for a well-played 44 from 32 deliveries. Together, he and Hewlett had put on 78 runs. Then, with triple figures in sight, Hewlett departed for 33 from 37 balls.
While Michaelhouse kept adding to their total, there was no acceleration of the scoring. It was more a case of stagnation as Westville’s spinners offered the batsmen little width and restricted them to ones and twos.
Almost stumped, then stumped
With the total on 108, with the last delivery of his over, Blake Simpson almost had Hayden Hewlett stumped off of his leg spin. The very next ball, bowled from the opposite end by left-arm spinner, Roxton Payne, did result in a stumped dismissal, but it was Murray Hall-Jones who was on his way, out for 11 from eight deliveries.
With 15 overs bowled, House were on 108 for 3. They had added only 29 runs in the previous five overs while losing four wickets.
Ethan Muir finally broke the shackles with a lusty lofted drive over long-on for six. He and Hayden Hewlett were clearly starting to have a full-blooded go at the bowling, but Muir was then castled by Payne, who got through the batsman’s defences with an arm ball that angled in from wide, as he bowled from around the wicket.
With two overs remaining, Michaelhouse were on 130 for 5. It didn’t look like it would be enough. They needed some boundaries. However, Blake Simpson, bowling the penultimate over, did a fine job of keeping the ball away from the boundary. House had 136 on the board with one to go.
A telling last over
With a telling last over, they posted a competitive total of 152 for 5 as Luke Payne and Hayden Hewlett managed to get stuck into Roxton Payne, who had bowled so well in his first three overs. Hewlett sent the fourth ball of the over backwards of square across the boundary. The fifth ball, he launched over cow’s corner for six as he went on to finish undefeated on 33 from 28 deliveries.
Payne was the most successful bowler, picking up 2 for 34, while Blake Simpson did a decent job with his leg-spin, picking up 1 for 26 in four.
Westville needed to bat at 7.65 runs per over to win.
Westville innings
Openers, Blake Simpson and Max Robertson, started off brightly, taking 10 runs off of the first over, but left-arm spinner Cameron Strudwick then sent down five dot balls in succession to Robertson, also a left-hander, to keep Westville at 11 without loss after two.
Robertson then played one or two loose shots to opening bowler Moller’s tight line, but when he faced Strudwick again in the following over he looked like a batsman transformed.
The first ball went for two runs. The next, bowled just outside of leg stump, invited Robertson to swing through the line and he sent it flying over deep mid-wicket for the maximum. When Strudwick dropped the next delivery a little short outside of off, Robertson carved it away off the back foot for a four.
Then, a decision to move to bowl from over the wicket was punished when the spinner pitched on leg stump and Robertson, once again, launched the ball over the leg side boundary. After four overs, Westville had reached 37 without loss. The fourth over had brought them 24 runs.
A rude welcome
Off-spinner Luke Payne was introduced into the attack in place of Cameron Strudwick, but he was given a rude welcome by Simpson. His first delivery was called wide and the next one Simpson deposited over mid-wicket, swinging freely in the arc to send a tracer bullet for six. When Payne drifted onto Simpson’s pads again, just two balls later, he repeated the treatment.
Westville’s batsmen looked unbothered by anything Michaelhouse threw at them. There were one or two deliveries from the seamers that had beaten the openers early on in the innings, but everything seemed to be hitting the middle of the bat now.
Thus, it was a little surprising when Robertson played and missed a delivery from seamer Radhesh Jhilmeet in the seventh over. The umpire met a Michaelhouse appeal with a raised finger, and the left-hander was out for an entertaining 42 from 27 deliveries.
Still, Westville kept up the run-scoring pressure. In the ninth over, Simpson, who had taken over the aggressive approach adopted by Robertson, hurt himself when he slipped while turning to take a second run. It left him hobbling.
100 up
Then, facing the last ball of the over, he manufactured an outrageous lofted shot over extra cover for six to bring up the Westville 100. His left foot splayed 45 degrees to the leg side. Then, leaning back onto his right foot, he threw his weight and bat through the ball to power it over the boundary. Westville were cruising to an easy win.
Simpson went to his fifty in the 12th over but, in pushing for a second run, Nicandro Kistna was run out by some distance. Still, Westville were in the driver’s seat on 130 for 2 after 11.5 overs. Kistna had played an excellent support innings, ensuring when he came in that the scoring rate never faltered. His contribution was 27 from 16 balls.
Simpson continued on, reaching 62 before he tried one lofted shot too many. This time, he caught the ball on the toe of the bat, and he didn’t get enough on it to take it over the boundary. Victory was only 10 runs away and he had done his part to take Westville to victory needing only 36 balls for his runs.
McGoughs for the win
It was left to Sean and Kyle McGough to see the Griffin home and they did so calmly, taking whatever the bowlers gave them to keep the momentum up. The 150 came up off 14.5 overs.
Two balls later, Sean McGough leapt on a short ball, pulling it wide of long on for a four to secure an impressively controlled win for Westville.
SCORES
Michaelhouse 152 for 5 (Mitchell-Innes 44, D. Hewlett 33, H. Hewlett 33*, R. Payne 2 for 34)
Westville 155 for 3 (B. Simpson 62, M. Robertson 42, N. Kistna 27)
Westville won by 7 wickets
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