Cracking finale on cards
Hudson Park takes on Alice team in T20 game
The Coca Cola Schools T20 Border section is set to hold a cracking finale on Monday afternoon when Hudson Park High School takes on the Alice Regional Performance Centre (RPC) with the winner to be crowned Border champs.
After poor weather saw the original finals weekend delayed, the quarterfinals and semis were finally played, with Hudson and Alice RPC emerging as the two finalists.
“The final is going to be a great occasion. If you look at the semifinals, it should be another nail-biter in Monday's final,” Border Youth Coordinator Loyiso Sibaca said. “Besides the rain that saw us postpone games a few times, I think the competition has gone very well this year and we are set for an exciting finish.
“The standard has been brilliant, which just shows you that the standard of Border cricket is high, which is fantastic.”
In the semifinals, Hudson edged fierce rivals Selborne College by just six runs in an entertaining match-up that went right down to the wire.
Hudson batted first and posted 115/7 at the end of their 20 overs, largely thanks to a superb innings from James Troon who cracked 60 runs off 47 balls.
Selborne were then cruising at one stage on 55/1, but then crashed to 65/6 and despite a solid rearguard fightback that got them close, they finished with a score of 109 all out, with Hudson's Nqaba Peter, 4/14, and Lilitha Reed, 2/14, impressing with the ball.
In the other semifinal, Stirling High School batted first and managed 111/9 in their 20 overs thanks to 42 from middle-order batsman J Naas, while Alice RPC replied by sneaking home by two wickets with opener L Magenge carrying his bat and finishing unbeaten on 59.
“The semifinals were exciting and extremely close so it was great entertainment,” Sibaca said.
“If you look at the Hudson and Selborne game, it went down to the wire with Hudson winning by six runs, and then Alice RPC and Stirling was decided by just two wickets, so it was very close and showed that teams were balanced.”
The winner of Monday's final will then go on to represent Border in the play-off against the Kei champions, followed by the Eastern Cape Warriors final against Eastern Province champions, St Andrew's College on March 9.
“The Border/Kei final, I think that Border will win it easily. I don't think the Kei teams are at this level yet, but it is important for them to play against stronger teams so that they can learn from it and get better,” Sibaca said.
“The big game will be the Warriors final. That is going to be a close and exciting one and St Andrew's has already been confirmed as winners of Eastern Province, so that will be very interesting.”
The Border final gets under way at 2.30pm on Monday.