Locals have the upper hand over the visitors so far at the Cape Schools festival

The 55th instalment of the Cape Schools Cricket Festival is in full swing after a bit of rain delayed the start for most teams on Saturday.

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Somerset College and Outeniqua were the only teams who played their first fixture on Saturday as the local boys kept building on their pre-season momentum, beating the Kwaggas with seven wickets to spare.

The boys from George opened the batting. Despite Stefan May doing well to protect his wicket and get to 80, Selborne College’s Thando Prusent wreaked havoc among his teammates, taking three wickets for only 23 runs and helping his team keep the visitors to a 173/6 in the reduced 35 overs.

An unbeaten 57 from Nicholas Rieth helped Somerset College to their first victory of the festival.

The boys from Somerset West backed up this performance with another big win on Sunday against Dale College.

Prusent was on fire, scoring 118 before declaring, with his team at a comfortable 283/5.

Callum Hughes scored 53 runs as he and Prusent added 127 since the last wicket fell before they decided to send the Dale boys out to bat.

Exceptional bowling by Thomas Parsons (4/21) and Christopher Varie (3/10) forced the follow on and Dion Claassens (2/4) and Hughes (2/5) tied up the loose ends in Dale College’s second innings to secure a massive victory by 182 runs.

This year’s Cape Schools Festival hosts, Paul Roos Gimnasium, had to slug it out with St Andrews from Bloemfontein to get their campaign started with a victory.

Riley Norton was the top scorer for the home team with 23 runs, but despite only setting up a total of 113, the Paul Roos bowling attack managed to dismiss the visitors for 90, leaving them exactly 23 runs short.

Norton has been the point of difference for his school more than once in the past and is just as influential on the rugby field for the boys in maroon.

He was selected for the SA Schools team this year after his performance for WP at the Craven Week and is in with a shot at also representing SA at the u19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka next year.

It was definitely a day for the bowlers though with St Andrews’ JC Young dismissing five Paul Roos batsmen for only 17 runs and Joshua Zietsman replying for the hosts with four wickets for 28.

Rondebosch Boys’ High are still looking like one of the most complete teams in the country this year.

After Pearson had been building some momentum with their pre-season success, their run came to an end against the Rondebosch boys.

Rondebosch scored 257/8 and despite a five-wicket haul for Pearson’s stalwart Esa Gangat, an unbeaten 50 by Raeeq Daniels and a solid 45 by Jordan Neill helped the hosts to a comfortable total.

Declan Gillespie and Daniels then unleashed on the Pearson batsmen, dismissing five for a combined total of only 28 runs to help seal the victory early, dismissing the visitors for 74 for a 183-run victory.

Wynberg Boys High scraped by against the visiting Grey High from Gqeberha by nine runs in one of the most exciting games of the day.

Benni Hansen raced to 120 before Wynberg declared at 297/7.

Divan Linde also contributed 67 with the bat and the locals looked well set up for a comfortable win.

Grey High got to 107/5 thanks to 50 by Corby van Heerden and  44 by Jean Upman, but it was the 73 off 37 balls by their seventh batsman, Dylan Garrod, that really put the Wynberg boys under pressure.

Garrod smashed five sixes and seven fours to help his team back into the game.

In the end, Wynberg Boys’ High held on for the win thanks to three wickets each by Divan Linde and Naas Beets.

Charles King took 6 wickets for Paarl Gimnasium against Outeniqua on Saturday, before Marinus Daling and Willem Mathee both reached their half-centuries without losing their wickets to secure a big 9-wicket triumph for the Gimmies.

Diocesan College flexed its muscles against a strong Queen’s College to cruise to a 187-run victory.

Adnaan Lagadien got 121 off the bat to help Bishops to a solid 291/5 after which they declared. Tiaan Louw then dismissed five batsmen from Queenstown for only 24 runs.

The only visiting team to record a victory on Sunday was Selborne College who beat Parel Vallei by 105 runs.

Ben van der Merwe, who also captains Selborne’s hockey team, scored 92 and Jacques van der Merwe followed closely with 72.

The action continues on Monday and Tuesday as nine of the top cricketing schools in the Western Cape test themselves against visitors from across the country.

Summarized Scorecards:

Day 2 (Time Cricket)

Rondebosch Boys’ High 257/8 (Raeeq Daniels 50*, Jordan Neill 45; Esa Gangat 5/55, Cayden Wilson 2/54); Pearson 74 (Jordan Collier 22; Declan Gillespie 3/17, Raeeq Daniels 2/11). Rondebosch Boys’ High won by 183 runs.

Somerset College first innings 283/5 (declared) (Thando Prusent 118*, Callum Hughes 53*, Extras 42, Rieth 30; Hlumelo Ntlola 2/68); Dale College first innings 77 (Joshua Hall 23; Thomas Parsons 4/21, Christopher Varie 3/10); Dale College second innings 24/5 (Dion Claassens 2/4, Callum Hughes 2/5). Somerset College won by 182 runs.

Graeme College 111 (Rhys Wiblin 40*; Litha Kraai 3/28, Hamish Anderson 2/23, Oliver Whitehead 2/13); SACS 115/3 (Ben Levitt 48, Joshua Wyngaard 27; AJ Jeggels 2/5). SACS won by seven wickets.

Paarl Boys’ High 143 (Gideon du Toit 45, Johan Wege 23; Kazi Shaakir 4/21, Kazi Yaseen 2/15); Union 39 (Josh Basson 7; Aden Batt 4/10, Christiaan Bourbon Lefty 2/2) Paarl Boys’ High win by 104 runs.

Outeniqua 147 (Stefan May 71, Charles King 6/42); Paarl Gimnasium 148/1 (Marinus Daling 52*, Willem Matthee 50*, Jandre Botha 34; Nathan Best 1/27). Paarl Gimnasium won by nine wickets.

Diocesan College 291/5 (Adnaan Lagadien 121, Ollie Chevallier 53, Kashief Joseph 43, Calum Daniels 30*, James Robb-Quinlan 25; Ryan Denston 1/62); Queen’s College 104 (Ryan Denston 51; Tiaan Louw 5/24). Diocesan College won by 187 runs.

Paul Roos Gimnasium 113 (Riley Norton 23; JC Young 5/17); St Andrews (Bloemfontein) 90 (FG Botha 19, Joshua Zietsman 4/28). Paul Roos Gimnasium won by 23 runs.

Wynberg Boys’ High 297/7 decl. (Beni Hansen 120*, Divan Linde 67, Paul James 40, Jordan Nel 28; Michael Molenaar 2/25, Xander Elkington 2/56); Grey High 288 (Dylan Garrod 73, Corby van Heerden 50, Jean Upman 44, Ben Ristow 34, De-Wet Goedhals 29, Extras 23; Divan Linde 3/53, Naas Beets 3/68, Yaseen Moos 2/55). Wynberg Boys’ High won by nine runs.

Selborne College 277/9 (Ben van der Merwe 92, Jacques van der Merwe 72, Waeden Plaatjes 25, Ethan Currin 20*; Joshua Smit 4/43, Christopher Hughes 2/48, Sibulele Makaleni 2/55); Parel Vallei 172 (Extras 39, Joshua Smit 31*, Joshua Pretorius 21, David Botes 20; Ethan Currin 3/40, Jacques van der Merwe 2/8, Ben van der Merwe 2/26, Bungqina Nuku 2/30). Selborne College won by 105 runs.

Day 1 (35 Overs)

Outeniqua 173/6 (Stefan May 80*, Extras 35; Thando Prusent 3/23); Somerset College 175/3 (Nicholas Rieth 57*, Antonio de Souza 43, Chad Ayford 35, Jonno Firth 20*; Christiaan van den Berg 1/23). Somerset College won by seven wickets.