St Andrew’s fight for rousing tie, then get outdone

St Andrew’s fought out a thrilling tie with Graeme before losing to Kingswood in a high-scoring match in the Shaw-Brown T20 cricket tournament in Grahamstown this weekend.

Thanks to a superb partnership of 99 runs off 72 balls by Peter Jarvis (67 off 50 balls) and Guy Rushmere (56 not out of 49), St Andrew’s made a decent total of 155 on Friday evening.

Graeme looked destined to finish off the match, but St Andrew’s kept their focus.

Daniel Erasmus, Ryan Ford and Rushmere all bowled economical and telling overs as they snatched a tie after their opponents had controlled much of the match.

After Graeme defeated Kingswood on Saturday, St Andrew’s needed to beat Kingswood later in the day to retain the trophy. Any other result would crown Graeme College the champions.

Sending Kingswood in to bat, St Andrew’s could only watch as opening batsman Justin Potgieter stole the show with a magnificent 128 off just 61 balls.

It was a significant knock as he countered every St Andrew’s strategy, helping his team post a formidable 199.

Josh van Holdt bowled with pace up front, unsettling the St Andrew’s batsmen as they reached 33/2 in the six-over power play.

Rushmere steadied the St Andrew’s innings with a wellplayed 37 off 30 balls and Callum Francis stroked a valiant 66 off just 30 balls.

But it was not enough as St Andrew’s finished on 182/8 to lose by 17 runs.