Westville’s first cricket team conquers St Charles

PUMPED up by their excellent win against Maritzburg College away at Goldstones the previous week, Westville Boys’ High School were hoping for the same when they hosted St Charles on Saturday.

WBHS won the toss on an overcast day and put St Charles in to bat first. The home team got off to a good start, building lots of pressure and making good use of the bowling-friendly conditions. The bowlers put on good performance, keeping St Charles’ run rate down to just 2.5 runs to the over in the first 15 overs.

After a good performance from the pace bowlers, captain Dylan Beavan brought on spinner, Reikert Viljoen, who immediately made an impact on the game by taking a wicket with the first ball he bowled. Viljoen ended up as the pick of the bowlers, taking four wickets for 33 runs, continuing with his excellent form. The previous week, against Maritzburg College, he had figures of four for 25 off 10 overs. St Charles eventually managed to get to 195 runs with a good partnership of 70 runs for the six wickets, with Brown on 51 and Nish on 56.

In the second half, WBHS got off to a fantastic start with an opening partnership of 80. Chad Carney, with an impressive batting display, scored a well-constructed 77.

He looked well set to get his maiden century for the first team, but miscommunication between himself and Scott at the other end resulted in Carney being run out. Scott also made a valuable contribution of 32.

St Charles never recovered from the damage that these two batsmen had done to their bowlers and WBHS’s middle order batsmen then saw the home team through for a good win by five wickets.