Staff vs parents - more than just a cricket match
With the staff leading 2 to 1 coming into the match, it was evident that both teams would come out blazing during Penryn College’s annual staff versus parents cricket match on Friday.
Staff captain, Gunther Swart, won the toss and elected to bat first in extremely cloudy conditions.
The opening pair,
Xolani Grootboom and debutant,
Mpendulo Nkosi, got off to a good start with Nkosi bagging his 30 runs in quick time.
Grootboom only managed to score 12 runs and got brilliantly caught on the boundary from the bowling of Alan Yeowart. The staff team were going at under eight runs per over after the first 10 overs as the parents dominated proceedings.
The parents had to make some changes in the middle overs and this gave the batsmen confidence to score more runs seeing that the best bowlers had finished their two-over spells inside the first 10 overs.
Another debutant for the staff team, Matthew Venter, batted well for his patient 25 runs after losing both Swart and Matt Reed in quick succession.
Michail Doumanis also came in and accelerated the run rate with the lower order, helping the staff team to 157/8 in their 20 overs. The highlight for the parents was when Shane Eva took a hat-trick in the middle overs -
a first between the two teams.
The parents had to get a good start and they tried to do so with Mark Greeff and Ashish Koul looking to put the bowlers away on a regular.
Reed got rid of Greeff, trapping him leg before wicket. Koul looked to also continue playing his shots, but soon fell after he was caught behind.
It was clear that the staff had the upper hand by limiting run scoring as well as taking regular wickets. Simon Harrison was the only parent who bagged a well-played 30 runs, but could not return, and this proved costly.
The run rate began to climb and it was evident that the "bragging rights shield" when they needed 37 in the last three overs.
The staff eventually won the match by 29 runs.
This year's match was also special, as both sides donated groceries towards families that are struggling within the Lowveld community.
The staff lead 3-1 going into next year's match.