The first round of T20 matches of the national Momentum U15 boys cricket week was battled out around East London on Saturday morning.
Hosts Border are still looking for their first win of the tournament after falling to their third defeat of the week, this time by 24-runs to Gauteng at Bohemians.
Gauteng batted first and the Border bowlers did a decent job in limiting them to 124/5 at the end of their 20 overs.
Gauteng's Rueben du Toit, not for the first time this week, got his side off to a good start, cracking a 16-ball 23, hitting four boundaries before he became the first wicket to fall, bowled by Hayden McKay with the score 32/1.
Fellow opener Kalyuran Pillay (12) followed just nine runs later, bowled by Ben van der Merwe.
The innings best partnership then followed as Thebe Gazibe (18) and top scorer Richard Seletsane, who hit 43 off 47 balls, shared in a 56-run stand, before Gazibe fell with the score on 99/3 and Seletsane on 120/4.
Ethan Perry added an unbeaten 13 at the end, but Border would have been happy with their effort, with Jonathan Anderson the pick of the bowlers claiming 2/13.
The Border chase was however very poor with seven batsmen scoring under five runs, including three ducks, two batsmen who scored one and one each that managed two and four respectively.
Only three batters got into double figures with Kyle van Wyk scoring 12, Azasakhe Kweya 15 and the impressive Tyler Stags smashing 43 off just 35 balls (3x4, 1x6), which helped then score 100 all out.
In other games KwaZulu-Natal Coastal were beaten by five wickets by North West, Northerns beat Mpumalanga by 24 runs, Eastern Province eased to a 51-run win over Namibia, Kwazulu-Natal Inland cruised to a 55-run win over Limpopo, South Western Districts pipped Free State by two wickets and Easterns claimed a 38-run win over Boland.
In the KZN Coastal v North West game, Coastal batted first and managed 134/4 thanks to Mohamed Taqvi's unbeaten 57-ball 75, while four North West bowlers claimed a scalp each. North West's reply was then a team effort as Cornelius Prinsloo (39), John van Wyk (25no), MJ Mostert (21) and Masigo Bathabile (21) made telling contributions to help their side get over the line with five balls to spare.
Easterns and Boland battled out a low scoring affair, with Easterns posting 103/8, while Boland were 65 all out.
Easterns' Abdullah Patel hit 45 off 43 balls to help his side to their total, while Boland's Keano Coetzee, 2/17, and Hadar Khan, 2/20, were the pick of the bowlers.
Boland's run scoring machine Dewald Grove was the only batsman to reach double figures, hitting 32 off 40 balls, while Wickus Arnott was the top bowler with superb figures of 3/4 off two overs.
In another low scoring encounter Free State managed 105/9 in their 20 overs and SWD got home with two balls to spare.
Free State were grateful to John Bell (40) and Samokelo Lephoto (21) for getting them over a hundred, while SWD's Ziano Lewis was almost unplayable claiming 4/10 off his four overs.
SWD then had five batsman getting into double figures to help then just make it over the line, with Liyabona Malefi top scoring with 20, while Free State's Alec McIntyre was superb in picking up 3/8 in four overs.
KZN Inland enjoyed a big win after posting the mornings second highest total, managing 172/4 in their 20 thanks to an unbeaten 65-ball 88 from Jake Carstens, with Limpopo's Thabiso Mohlasedi, 2/25, their best bowler.
Limpopo's Shelton Ngobeni (29) and Paballo Molefe (28) shared in a 63-run third wicket stand but when they fell in quick succession the chase fell away, as Matthew Ponter with 3/7 starred for the Inland bowlers.
EP scored a decent 131/8 in their 20 overs, which proved too much for Namibia as they were all out for 80 in their encounter.
Siphamandla Bashe was the top scorer for EP with a 42-ball 46 and he was backed up well by Mikhyle Brass (28) and Daniel Ristow (24no), with Namibia's Alexander Busing-Volschenk impressing taking 2/9 in two overs.
Namibia's Gerhard Janse van Rensburg was then again their top scorer hitting 25, but EP outshone them with all seven of their bowlers picking up a wicket, including Viwe Gana, 2/5 and Ristow, 2/11, the pick of the lot.
In a high scoring match Northerns scored the highest total of the morning, amassing 179/5 in their 20 overs while Mpumalanga replied with 155/6.
Morati Lefhiedi was the top batsman with 58 off 45 balls, while Modise Maloka, 38 off 31, and Darius Schutte, 36 not out off 30, backed him up, while only two Mpumalanga bowlers picked up wickets, with three run outs.
Armand Bordenstein (40) and Stefan Leemans (32) were Mpumalanga's top batsmen in their chase but it was not enough, with Northerns bowler Mohammad Aslam impressing with figures of 3/33.
Hosts Border continue to struggle as U15 cricket action hots up
Image: Deryck Foster/BackpagePix
The first round of T20 matches of the national Momentum U15 boys cricket week was battled out around East London on Saturday morning.
Hosts Border are still looking for their first win of the tournament after falling to their third defeat of the week, this time by 24-runs to Gauteng at Bohemians.
Gauteng batted first and the Border bowlers did a decent job in limiting them to 124/5 at the end of their 20 overs.
Gauteng's Rueben du Toit, not for the first time this week, got his side off to a good start, cracking a 16-ball 23, hitting four boundaries before he became the first wicket to fall, bowled by Hayden McKay with the score 32/1.
Fellow opener Kalyuran Pillay (12) followed just nine runs later, bowled by Ben van der Merwe.
The innings best partnership then followed as Thebe Gazibe (18) and top scorer Richard Seletsane, who hit 43 off 47 balls, shared in a 56-run stand, before Gazibe fell with the score on 99/3 and Seletsane on 120/4.
Ethan Perry added an unbeaten 13 at the end, but Border would have been happy with their effort, with Jonathan Anderson the pick of the bowlers claiming 2/13.
The Border chase was however very poor with seven batsmen scoring under five runs, including three ducks, two batsmen who scored one and one each that managed two and four respectively.
Only three batters got into double figures with Kyle van Wyk scoring 12, Azasakhe Kweya 15 and the impressive Tyler Stags smashing 43 off just 35 balls (3x4, 1x6), which helped then score 100 all out.
In other games KwaZulu-Natal Coastal were beaten by five wickets by North West, Northerns beat Mpumalanga by 24 runs, Eastern Province eased to a 51-run win over Namibia, Kwazulu-Natal Inland cruised to a 55-run win over Limpopo, South Western Districts pipped Free State by two wickets and Easterns claimed a 38-run win over Boland.
In the KZN Coastal v North West game, Coastal batted first and managed 134/4 thanks to Mohamed Taqvi's unbeaten 57-ball 75, while four North West bowlers claimed a scalp each. North West's reply was then a team effort as Cornelius Prinsloo (39), John van Wyk (25no), MJ Mostert (21) and Masigo Bathabile (21) made telling contributions to help their side get over the line with five balls to spare.
Easterns and Boland battled out a low scoring affair, with Easterns posting 103/8, while Boland were 65 all out.
Easterns' Abdullah Patel hit 45 off 43 balls to help his side to their total, while Boland's Keano Coetzee, 2/17, and Hadar Khan, 2/20, were the pick of the bowlers.
Boland's run scoring machine Dewald Grove was the only batsman to reach double figures, hitting 32 off 40 balls, while Wickus Arnott was the top bowler with superb figures of 3/4 off two overs.
In another low scoring encounter Free State managed 105/9 in their 20 overs and SWD got home with two balls to spare.
Free State were grateful to John Bell (40) and Samokelo Lephoto (21) for getting them over a hundred, while SWD's Ziano Lewis was almost unplayable claiming 4/10 off his four overs.
SWD then had five batsman getting into double figures to help then just make it over the line, with Liyabona Malefi top scoring with 20, while Free State's Alec McIntyre was superb in picking up 3/8 in four overs.
KZN Inland enjoyed a big win after posting the mornings second highest total, managing 172/4 in their 20 thanks to an unbeaten 65-ball 88 from Jake Carstens, with Limpopo's Thabiso Mohlasedi, 2/25, their best bowler.
Limpopo's Shelton Ngobeni (29) and Paballo Molefe (28) shared in a 63-run third wicket stand but when they fell in quick succession the chase fell away, as Matthew Ponter with 3/7 starred for the Inland bowlers.
EP scored a decent 131/8 in their 20 overs, which proved too much for Namibia as they were all out for 80 in their encounter.
Siphamandla Bashe was the top scorer for EP with a 42-ball 46 and he was backed up well by Mikhyle Brass (28) and Daniel Ristow (24no), with Namibia's Alexander Busing-Volschenk impressing taking 2/9 in two overs.
Namibia's Gerhard Janse van Rensburg was then again their top scorer hitting 25, but EP outshone them with all seven of their bowlers picking up a wicket, including Viwe Gana, 2/5 and Ristow, 2/11, the pick of the lot.
In a high scoring match Northerns scored the highest total of the morning, amassing 179/5 in their 20 overs while Mpumalanga replied with 155/6.
Morati Lefhiedi was the top batsman with 58 off 45 balls, while Modise Maloka, 38 off 31, and Darius Schutte, 36 not out off 30, backed him up, while only two Mpumalanga bowlers picked up wickets, with three run outs.
Armand Bordenstein (40) and Stefan Leemans (32) were Mpumalanga's top batsmen in their chase but it was not enough, with Northerns bowler Mohammad Aslam impressing with figures of 3/33.
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