CRICKET : T20 SEMI FINAL
1st XI DHS 101
Clifton 102/8
DHS lost by 2 Wickets
We left for Riverside at 12h30, TO arrive there at 12h50 as I had organised for SJ Arwee a current Dolphins player to have a quick chat with the boys about T20 knock out matches. He spoke to them about attacking the shorter boundaries and judging the wind with regards to spinners bowling from which end. He covered all the basics of T20 cricket. The boys really enjoyed his.
We won the Toss and elected to bat; our target was 130 as we felt that this would put pressure on Clifton coming into bat having to go at over 6 an over. We lost wickets at the worst times and this restricted us to 101 in 20 overs. Tinashe Nenhunzi batted well coming in at number 3 and scoring 40 of 31 balls.
We had a quick chat before we went out to field, basically stating that we need 2 to 3 wickets in the power play to bring ourselves back into the game. The plan was set as early as Monday as to how we were going to bowl. We started like a house on fire – we had Clifton 20 for 5 after 6 overs. Rodney Mapfudza leg spinner 4 overs 3 wickets 15 runs.
We knew the game wasn’t won yet as Matthew Montgomery who is a really good player was still out in the middle. He did well for them as he stuck around while wickets were falling around him, we got him out and at that stage Clifton needed 15 of 12 with 2 wickets in hand Montgomery scored 44.
Going into the last over they needed 10 to win. The first ball went for 6 over long on, and the second ball went for four. We lost by 2 wickets.
A great game of cricket played in great spirit by both teams.
O Gcilitshana
1st XI Cricket Coach
CRICKET vs CLIFTON
1st XI Clifton 88
(Mupfudza 3/14, Stride 3/20)
DHS 91/2
(Madiba 36)
DHS won by 8 Wickets
Saturday 4 February, a very hot but pleasant day to play cricket.
We hosted Clifton College in a Declaration Match, also known as Time Cricket. This fixture is always a tough one and this was made tougher by the fact that we had just played them 4 days prior in the schools T20 semi-final where we lost in the last over.
Saturday morning in the changing room we spoke about Tuesdays match and the boys were made to understand that this was not a grudge match nor was it a second round match.
This match needed fresh minds, fresh thoughts and high levels of concentration.
If we won then we were going to bowl first but we lost the toss and they elected to bat anyway.
Safwaan Barradeen and Joshua Stride bowled very well up front with the new ball. We applied pressure through the innings and we searched for openings and never looked back.
We bowled Clifton College out for 98 with Joshua Stride (still 14 years old) bowling 9 overs 3 wickets 20 runs and Rodney Mapfudza 9.1 overs 3 wickets 14 runs.
Back in the changing room just before we went out to bat the message was clear, “Don’t give them a sniff or belief that they can win this match”. The only way to do this was by making sure that we didn’t lose wickets in the first 10 overs. We also focused on scoring on anything loose. In between all of that, we had to make sure that we ran well.
We started very well and we were 46 for 0 after 13 overs before Brayden Sambhu got injured and had to retire hurt. This broke our momentum a bit as we went to a drinks break before lunch on 60 for 2.
We came out looking positives and scored the remainder of the runs without losing anymore wickets.
Top performers with the bat were Avuyile Madiba with 36 and the captain Tinashe Nenhunzi 22*.
We won by 8 wickets.
The boys showed a lot of heart and great maturity out on Theobald Oval. A well-deserved victory that will do nothing but good for the teams moral.
O Gcilitshana
1st XI Cricket Coach
WATER POLO vs CLIFTON
1st 4 18
Against a youthful but skilful opponent we started very well and for the first half of the first chukka the game was very even and we gave a good account of ourselves in the opening exchanges. The team showed one change with Connor Mack replacing Tre Bedderson (Robertson). Two quick counter-attack goals rocked us back on our heels but a well taken penalty by Moe Khan put us back in the frame only for us to concede a soft goal with twelve seconds left on the clock. The score of 1-3 was probably a fair reflection of the game up to that point.
During the second chukka the tempo of the game picked up considerably and the number of times we were robbed of the ball whilst in possession was cause for concern. Clifton scored two quick goals to widen the gap but Andreas Kyprou pulled one back with a beautifully executed back shot.
Another three goals by our opponents saw them threatening to run away with the game but our boys showed they were made of stern stuff and “Dash” Naicker scored a fine goal from a rebound for the score at the halfway stage to be 3-8.
The third quarter was by far our best effort and by stout hearted defence we restricted Clifton to two goals whist Andreas Kyprou by dint of pure cussedness and perseverance scored a fine goal for us.
At 4-10 we were far from out of the game for the final quarter but then the wheels fell off and through poor decision making and slow reactions we allowed Clifton to swim away from us on counter attacks which invariably found goalie Stroh confronted one-on-one or even two Clifton players alone with him with the would-be defenders wallowing in their wake!! Stroh who had had a magnificent game up till then just had no chance at all and Clifton managed to score eight more goals without reply to run out winners 4-18.
Stroh, who had pulled off countless saves during the game was fittingly elected our man of the match.
A Burt
M-i-C : Water Polo