COLLEGE AND MICHAELHOUSE END SPORTING SEASON ON A HIGH
It was a warm and thankfully dry day which brought College’s summer fixtures to an end, with cricket, basketball and water polo teams in action against Michaelhouse.
College fielded 11 cricket teams against Michaelhouse, winning five of their matches, with the 1st XI and U16A sides both securing good wins.
Robbie Coutts, the 1st XI coach, said that after Michaelhouse won the toss and elected to bat, the College bowlers started well making the openers play and miss at many deliveries. “Matthew Ponter made the breakthrough in the fourth over, with a good catch at slip by Bryn Brokensha to have Michaelhouse 11 for 1,” he added.
“Michaelhouse, with some luck, absorbed the early pressure and put on their two biggest partnerships of the match for the second and third wicket.
“The introduction of College’s Chad Mason made an immediate impact, another smart catch at slip by Brokensha, and Michaelhouse were 50 for 2 in the 11th over.
“College were put under pressure by the Michaelhouse batters, making sure anything lose was hit to the boundary.
“The reintroduction of Ponter broke the 93 run partnership, and Michaelhouse were 143 for three in the 32nd over.
“College took wickets at regular occasions, never letting Michaelhouse have any meaningful partnerships and they were never able to capitalise on the base that they had set, eventually collapsing from 221 for six to 228 all out.
“College lost opener Creedon Smith in the third over, and were 14 for one. Liam Armstrong and Caleb Thomas took College past 50 before Thomas was out in the ninth over, leaving College 51 for two.
“The dismissal of College captain Johnathan van Zyl for 12, lifted the Michaelhouse team and at 70 for three, the game was evenly poised. College absorbed the pressure and stayed in the game with small partnerships, the biggest being a 54 run partnership between Armstrong and Brokensha.
“The game was in the balance at 154 for five in the 35 over, and Armstrong combined well with Rhett Quin to put on 46 for the sixth wicket. The dismissal of Armstrong for a well-played 95 once again opened the door for the hosts, but Mason and Ponter ensured there would be no late drama scoring the remaining 18 runs, and bring College home to an exciting 3 wicket win with 10 balls of the innings remaining.”
Summary of results:
2nd XI - College lost by three wickets;
3rds - College lost by seven wickets;
4ths - College lost by six wickets; U16A - College won by seven wickets;
U15A - College lost by one wicket;
U15B - College lost by five runs;
U15C - College won by eight wickets;
U14A - College lost by 91 runs;
U14B - College won by 13 runs;
U14C - College won by nine wickets.
This weekend was always going to be tough day for the basketball teams following the tragic loss of first team coach, Bongani Khumalo in a car accident earlier in the week. A very sad, poignant minute of silence was held at the start to the 1st team game.
On the day, College played 18 games, winning 10 and losing eight.
The water polo teams enjoyed a great end to the 2022 season with some very good results against Michaelhouse, which saw the first team finish the season with a 9-9 draw.
Other results:
2nd won 8-5;
3rd drew 7-7;
15A won - 3-2;
15B lost 2-9;
14A lost 2-7;
Junior mix won 7-4.
Both the College senior and junior squash teams played in their final fixtures of the year against Michaelhouse last week. Both schools have had successful seasons, so it was a fitting way to end off the year.
College’s senior team, up against a very strong Michaelhouse side, put in a hearty performance with the boys playing with their hearts on their sleeves. Unfortunately, College went down 2-6 in matches in what proved to be a fiercely competitive fixture.
Both Veer Premchund and Matt Mason must be complimented on their fantastic performances, winning 3-0 and 3-1 respectively.
College’s junior team have had an outstanding year and capped off a near flawless season as they ran out 6-2 victors. A fantastic result and very promising for the squash programme as many of ourthird form players will now move up to our senior team next year.