Grey to represent PE at National T20 finals

GREY High School of Port Elizabeth is the final team to qualify for the Coca-Cola Schools T20 Challenge National Finals after they beat Selborne College by 12 runs in the Warriors franchise final in Port Elizabeth at the weekend.

Selborne won the toss and sent Grey High into bat. Grey’s LJ Du Preez hit Jordan Coles for 18 runs off the first over of the match.

Selborne brought on 15-year-old Matthew Fourie to take over from Coles.

Fourie took the first three wickets of the match and ended with 3/15, earning him recognition from Standard Bank Proteas Batsman, Temba Bavuma, who selected him for the Coca-Cola T20 All-Star team that will play against a Cricket South Africa Development Hubs team at the CocaCola Schools T20 National Finals in Pretoria.

When Fourie finished his spell, Grey High forced the pace and accumulated 138/6, with Tristan Stubbs getting 38, Nicholas Fowler 23 not out and LJ du Preez 23.

In Selborne’s reply they lost Matthew Ferrent and Matt Dewar off the first two balls of the innings and from there they were chasing the game.

Thomas Bursey (30) and Ethan Boucher (21) tried hard in the middle overs but lost their wickets as soon as they started to accelerate the score.

Selborne needed 54 off the last 3 overs and Aiden van Wyk tried to knock off the runs himself and in the end made the run chase respectable getting his team to 126/9, 12 runs short.

Joining Matthew Fourie in the Coca-Cola T20 All-Star team is Matthew Dewar, the captain of Selborne and a player who performed well consistently in the tournament, getting them into the franchise finals.

Bavuma was impressed with what both players had done for their team. “Matthew Fourie started very well with the ball for the Selborne team by taking three wickets economically, he slowed down the Grey High storm. I also selected Matthew Dewar. He is a quality batsman,” Bavuma commented.

The new addition to the Coca-Cola Schools T20 Challenge is aimed at spreading the talent search net wider.