Saints Christian School will once again represent Potch at the national Schools SA20 finals after capturing the Central phase title for a second year in a row in a tight 24-run win against Hoërskool Witteberg at the J.B. Marks Oval.
Saints’ u/19 girls showed guts and determination in their defence of 111/8 to restrict Witteberg to 87/8 in their 20 overs. Especially after the two openers, Zane Wessels (28 from 45 balls) and Mia Daacke (34 from 31 balls had put on a stand of 72 for the first wicket in 12 overs.
Witteberg were in a great position, but the reintroduction of Gogontle Padi (2/15) swung the game in Saints’ favour. She got both openers in the same over getting Wessels LBW, before clean bowling Daacke.
Photos: Wouter Pienaar
This opened up WItteberg’s batting order and through consistent pressure they restricted the girls from Bethlehem to only 15 runs in the next 7 overs.
Diarabilwe Ngubeni (2/16) bowled beautifully to the middle-order with Reabetswe Ditihipe also taking a great catch off Ngubeni’s bowling.
A couple of run-outs added to Witteberg’s woes as Saints tightened the screws to walk away with the victory and an opportunity to go one better than 2025 and lift the national title in 2026.
Earlier on, Saints made 111/8 in a below par batting performance with no batter going past 30. Valencia Kitime hit 21 and Leanny Makusha contributed 20, but it seemed that the batters could not get their timing right. The score proved to be enough as Saints coped better with the pressure.
As usual, the Saints family roared on the girls with non-stop support from the stands. Every dot ball was cheered and every wickets celebrated as if they had already lifted the trophy. It was without doubt a big motivating factor for this team who thrive on the excitement brought on from their supporters.
