2 XI Cricket Team win the Johnny Waite Final

February 26, 2018 | Boys’ College | Author: Report by Mr Graham Jonson, 2nd Team Coach

The 2nd XI took a difficult route to the Final of the Johnny Waite B Section this year. Comfortable victories against Redhill, Trinityhouse and King David Linksfield were followed by a chastening defeat to St John’s College in the final pool match. This setback served to galvinise the team to reassess their performances and re-set their goals for the season.

Victory by 68 runs over Helpmekaar in the quarter-final saw the team once again facing St John’s College in the semi-final. On this occasion however, a more disciplined bowling and fielding performance saw our opponents limited to 102 runs, which our batsmen were able to surpass with 3 overs to spare.

The Final was a repeat of the previous two year’s editions in that we faced King Edward VII School. Hosted by St David’s Marist College, the game was played under grey skies, with KES winning the toss and electing to bat first.

Our initial hopes of putting pressure on the batsmen with good bowling and fielding were disappointed when a catch was dropped in the first over. This looked to be extremely costly as Joshua Streak went on to score 75, in an opening partnership of 129 with Kyle Badenhorst. At the end of 20 overs, KES had amassed 148 runs for only 2 wickets and the challenge was set before us.

Under the instruction to settle in and maintain a steady run rate, the team lost early wickets and reached the half way point of the innings at 45 for the loss of Dawid Oosthuizen, Brandon Hirst and Simon Webber. Requiring a further 104 off the last 10 overs was daunting but this set the scene for a match winning performance by Travis Ladner. As the target steadily dropped, Ladner and Michael Wasley built a partnership of 69 off 60 balls to bring the score to 110 for 4 with 4 overs to go.

Partnerships of 23 and 18 with Dylan Martin and Yaeshen Saman respectively saw these batsmen ably giving the strike to Ladner to unleash. The required rate steadily decreased as the tension around the ground sky-rocketed; 104 off 60 balls became 39 off 24 until in the final over we needed just 7 runs to win. A wicket off the first ball did not settle the nerves of the spectators but Ladner held his perfectly to strike two boundaries to see Saints home by 4 wickets with 2 balls to spare. Ladner finished unbeaten on 76 off 48 balls.

This was an incredible game of cricket played by two evenly matched teams. Saints can take heart from their never-say-die attitude and proved worthy champions.

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