Kearsney College rounds up weekend sports

KEARSNEY College’s first waterpolo team beat Maritzburg College’s first team 21-1 on the weekend.

The win against College will remain for a long time in the mind of Kearsney captain, Luke Croshaw, who played his 100th game for the Kearsney first team.

The schools also faced off in the final cricket fixture of the season on Saturday. The hosts (Kearsney) won the toss and opted to bat first. They got off to a slow start and thanks to two wickets from Graham Hudson (2/29 in 10 overs), they were in trouble at 15/2 in the seventh over. College continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, pegged back by the spin of Matthew Lees, who returned figures of 3-21 in his 10 overs, and were in trouble at 107/7 in the 28th over. An 84-run stand for the eighth wicket in almost 20 overs between Sherwood and Steenkamp from College (94 from 110 balls) saw them to an eventual score of 205 all out, with the last wicket falling on the last ball of the innings.

The Kearsney innings started off poorly with Brad Porteous caught behind for a duck to have Kearsney at 4/1 in the third over. Wickets fell almost at will, with the Kearsney batsmen showing very little application on a wearing, but nevertheless easy, pitch, with the side in serious trouble at 27/6 and 55/8. What followed was the only decent partnership of the innings of 40 runs between Cameron Craze (who top-scored for Kearsney with 43 off 45 balls) and Graham Hudson. Kearsney was eventually bowled out for 97 with Craze the last man out, well-caught in the covers. College won by 108 runs with Sherwood the best of their bowlers, returning figures of 3/13 in six overs. Maritzburg College’s first XI scored 205/10 (Lees 3/21, Stamatis 3/30) and Kearsney 97/10 (Craze 43). Kearsney lost by 108 runs.

In basketball news, the final game of the season started poorly for Kearsney with them being dominated by a more motivated College team. They were able to convert their shot attempts, while Kearsney were taking good shots but were not getting their shots to drop. College’s pressure defence forced Kearsney out of their comfort zone and they struggled to find any cohesion on offence. College went into the half time leading 25-12. Kearsney mounted a fight back in the third quarter but they were unable to climb the mountain that had been created for them. College kept extending their lead by some good outside shooting from beyond the three-point arc. The only shining lights for Kearsney were Kuhle Bophela, who scored 11 points, and Oliver Wykerd, who scored eight. Captain of the day, Lwazi Zulu, found some form and had a good game, but unfortunately Kearsney’s first team lost to College’s first team 38-60.