St Stithians College has once again reached the national finals of the Coca-Cola Schools T20 Challenge.
The winners of the 2014, 2016 and 2017 national tournaments beat Hoer Volkskool Potchefstroom in the Lions franchise final on 6 March to book their spot in the national finals at Tuks from 15 to 17 March.
The franchise final was well won. Hoer Volkskool Potchefstroom batted first in the game at Walter Milton Oval at Wits University. Their top order had good starts but before they could take the game away from St Stithians they lost wickets.
Volkskool managed to score a very respectable 166/9 in their 20 overs. It could have been more if it wasn’t for Thomas Winte and Sebastian de Oliviera, who took three wickets apiece to keep the score low.
St Stithians started a little slower than their opponents, but the moment Jodi de Sousa (102 runs not out) and Liam Mostert (62 runs not out) settled in, they accelerated swiftly and chased down the total in the 19th over for a nine-wicket win.
“Last year we did not have the best Coca-Cola T20 Schools Challenge so it feels great to see how much we have improved this year,” Saints captain, Matthew Lieberman said.
He added that there was pressure on the team to win the final following their successful record and he believed they would do well.
Former Proteas player Paul Harris commented on what he witnessed at the game.
“St Stithians really impressed me with the way they chased down a large total posted by Hoer Volkskool Potchefstroom. It is not often you see composure like that,” he said.
St Stithians will join the other five franchise winners and the two schools that qualified through the Cricket South Africa Focus School programme at the competition’s national finals.
Related articles:
https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/177641/robin-peterson-called-up-to-scout-heroes-at-coca-cola-schools-t20-challenge/
https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/176873/t20-cricket-festival/
