Paarl Gimnasium won the Boland T20 Schools Challenge Provincial Final on Sunday after beating Paarl Boys High by eight wickets.
The 2017 Cobras representatives, Paarl Gimnasium, have won the opportunity to play in the Cobras franchise final of the 2019 Schools T20 Challenge tournament, after winning the Boland Schools T20 Challenge Provincial Finals played at Paul Roos Gimnasium.
This year’s provincial finals were played over two days and started off at the quarter-final stage with New Orleans Secondary School, Paulus Joubert Secondary School, Paarl Gimnasium, Worcester Gimnasium, Paul Roos Gimnasium, Parel Vallei High School, Paarl Boys High and Lutzville High School playing against each other for the chance to represent their province.
Paarl Gimnasium beat Worcester Gimnasium by eight wickets in the quarter-final, New Orleans Secondary School by 37 runs in the semi-final and Paarl Boys High by eight wickets in the final.
Craig Thyssen, the Paarl Gimnasium coach, said about his team, ‘We have gone to the national finals before, and the last time we were there we lost in the final to St Stithians with players like Wiaan Mulder and Joshua Richards in the team, so we know what it takes to get to that level.
‘However, this team has less individuals in the side and play more as a team, so I believe that we can go one step further and win the national finals. But before we focus on the national finals we still need to beat tough teams from Western Province and South Western Districts,’ he added.
The winner of the Franchise finals will join five other franchise winners and the two schools that qualified through the CSA Focus School programme in the competition’s National Finals at the University of Pretoria from 15-17 March 2019. The T20 School Challenge winner stands to walk away with R110 000 in prize money for their school.
Results
Quarter-Finals
New Orleans Secondary School 141-7 (D Grouch 28; L Martin 2-34)
Paulus Joubert Secondary School 106-7 (L Martin 45; R Louw 2-17)
New Orleans won by 35 runs
Paarl Boys High 204-6 (J Cronje 69; H Slabbert 2-21)
Lutzville High School 57 (V Vercuil 25; W Roos 3-21)
Paarl Boys High won by 197 runs
Paul Roos Gimnasium 182-3 (R Senekal 100 not out)
Parel Vallei High School 74 (J Rademan 34; M Ludditt 4-18)
Paul Roos won by 108 runs
Worcester Gimnasium 76 (F Brand 2-4, J Burger 2-4)
Paarl Gimnasium 79-2 (J Smal 30; E Klusmann 2-14)
Paarl Gim won by 8 wickets
Semi-Finals
Paarl Gimnasium 142-5 (H Hanekom 43, B Calitz 35 not out)
New Orleans Secondary School 105-6 (N Jacobs 31; J Burger 2-17)
Paarl Gim won by 37 runs
Paul Roos Gimnasium 85-9 (M Papenfus 4-16)
Paarl Boys High 86-4 (J Cronje 35)
Paarl Boys High won by 6 wickets
Final
Paarl Boys High 102-9 (N Bekker 39; B Davids 4-15)
Paarl Gimnasium 104-2 (B Calitz 53)
Paarl Gim won by 8 wickets
Photos: Shawn Belluigi
