1 September 2025
St Charles College vs St John’s College
St Charles College played to an encouraging two-day draw with St John’s College on the Mitchell Oval in Johannesburg on Sunday to end the Fasken Time Cricket Festival on a positive note.
Saints had gone down to King Edward VII (KES) by seven wickets in their first match, with their batsmen struggling for consistency, but they found greater consistency against KES’s neighbours.
A decision to bat first, however, backfired as St Charles found themselves in early trouble on 2/2. That, soon, became 20/3.
AJ Bosman and Rowen Rajah, in at four and five, righted the ship, adding 70 for the fourth wicket before Bosman fell for 49 from 72 balls, having struck four fours and a six. Unfortunately for Saints, Rajah followed five runs later for 34 from 70, which had included four fours.
When St Charles was reduced to 112/6, with the dismissal of Thando Zama, St John’s had momentum on their side, but Caleb Sharp and Ryan Clarke, then, ripped it away, adding 94 runs for the seventh wicket.
Clarke hit seven fours in an 82-ball 57 before falling caught and bowled to St John’s captain Alec Loveland. Sharp, though, stayed on and was unbeaten on 76 from 98 balls, with five fours and a six, when St Charles declared on 241/8.
Loveland finished with 3/75, while his new ball partner, David Ireland, took 3/41. Juan de Villiers bagged 2/39.
In response, St John’s finished the day on 178/7, but they picked up some momentum on Sunday to tally 265 all out.
James Yuill, in at seven, was the catalyst, with an aggressive knock of 77 from 63 balls, which included 12 fours and a six. Michael Stubbs did his bit, with 49 at the top of the order, while Aiden Barberini chipped in with 30, and Alec Loveland and Herman Basson made 26 each.
Keegan Vermaak led the Saints’ bowling attack, claiming 3/54 from 12 overs, while Caleb Sharp picked up 2/28 and Rowen Rajah 2/37.
Batting again, St Charles lost two early wickets, like in their first innings, and soon they found themselves staring down the barrel on 33/4, with two of those dismissals coming from run outs.
That’s when opener Christiaan Prinsloo and Thando Zama put a stop to the rot in emphatic fashion with a big partnership of 190 runs from 280 balls, which totally blunted the St John’s bowling attack.
The stand ended in the 60th over when Zama was trapped in front by Tapiwa Chikwava for 89. He had spent 137 balls at the crease and struck 10 fours and a six.
Prinsloo was eventually dismissed with the total on 261, but he had done a fine job. His 210-ball stay produced 120 runs, eight of which he dispatched into the boundary, with one flying over it.
When the game finished, St Charles was on 275/6 in their second innings, with Caleb Sharp unbeaten on 32, giving him 108 runs for the match without being dismissed.
Clifton College vs King Edward VII
After an outstanding win over Noordhweuwel, Clifton let it slip against KES with “one bad innings”, in the words of coach Brandon Scullard, and then a poor fielding performance during which they spilled five catches off the bowling of leg-spinner Shiraz Perumal.
Those lapses came at a price and that price was a nine-wicket defeat.
Batting first on St David’s Marist Inanda‘s Gier Oval, after winning the toss, Clifton’s top order gave the Durban boys a good start, which included 31 from opener Yusuf Ahmed. They batted slowly but kept accumulating runs until they had reached 156/2 in the 55th over.
That’s when disaster struck, though, with Hayden Drieselman, the innings’ second-highest scorer falling for 50 off 75 balls, which had included nine fours. Two runs later, Muhammed Malek, the top scorer, was run out for a patient 53 from 146 deliveries, six of which were sent to the boundary.
That double blow was quickly followed by the fall of two more wickets, and suddenly the complexion of the innings had changed, with Clifton on 158/6. Steele Grooteman turned the tide for KES, picking up three sticks to go with the run out.
There was some lower order resistance from Caleb Naicker, with 15 not out, and Shiraz Perumal, with 17, but a once-promising innings lost its momentum and ended on 198/8.
Grooteman was the pick of the KES bowlers, returning 4/58 from 15 overs, while Wade McQuinn picked up 2/19 in eight.
Clifton made an early breakthrough in the KES reply, with a combination of Shiraz Perumal’s hands and Eliah van Jaarsveld‘s bowling accounting for Abdullah Mohammed for five. Unfortunately for the Durban side, the other opener, Tiago Dias, one of the leading run scorers in the tournament, was on song.
He and Troy Gordon added 143 for the second wicket at a good rate before Gordon was caught off the bowling of Veer Ramouthar for 64. Dias, though, went on to record an unbeaten 101 from 128 deliveries, with 13 fours, and KES declared only seven runs ahead, on 205/3.
After losing Yusuf Ahmed early in their reply, Clifton’s top order again provided a stable platform, with Matthias Samuel, opening the innings, make 38, which ended up being the highest scorer of the innings.
Mohammed Malek weighed in with 22 and Hayden Drieselman made 20, but Clifton was again done in by a collapse. This time, they went from 71/2 to 72/5.
Shiraz Perumal, with 28 not out, and Caleb Naicker, with 25, once more provided late resistance, but Clifton lost their way and were all out for 169.
Steele Grooteman, who took the new ball with Connor Kuijers, did the damage again. In 14.2 overs, he snared 5/35, while Kuijers gave little away, knocking over 3/22 from 20.
Aided by Clifton’s loose hands in the field, KES cantered to victory in the 33rd over of their second innings, with Dias leading the way and ending undefeated again, this time with 79 from 86, which included 11 fours.
His opening partner, Abdullah Mohammed, contributed 45 in an opening stand of 98, and Troy Gordon was on 32 not out at the end.
Scores
St Charles 241/8 (Caleb Sharp 76*, Ryan Clarke 57, AJ Bosman 49, Rowen Rajah 34, David Ireland 3/41, Alex Loveland 3/75, Juan de Villiers 2/39); St John’s 265/10 (James Yuill 77, Michael Stubbs 49, Aiden Barberini 30, Herman Basson 26, Alec Loveland 26, Keegan Vermaak 3/54, Caleb Sharp 2/28, Rowen Rajah 2/37); St Charles 275/6 (Christiaan Prinsloo 120, Thando Zama 89, Caleb Sharp 32*, Tapiwa Chikwava 2/45).
Match drawn.
Clifton 198/8 (Muhammed Malek 53, Hayden Drieselman 50, Yusuf Ahmed 31, Steele Grooteman 4/58, Wade McQuinn 2/19); KES 205/3 (Tiago Dias 101*, Troy Gordon 64); Clifton 169/10 (Matthias Samuel 38, Shiraz Perumal 28*, Caleb Naicker 25, Muhammed Malek 22, Hayden Drieselman 20, Steele Grooteman 5/35, Connor Kuijers 3/22); KES 166/1 (Tiago Dias 79*, Abdullah Mohammed 45, Troy Gordon 32*).
KES won by nine wickets.
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