Leading from the front, Captain Tyron Koen

Leading from the front, Captain Tyron Koen

Home side Kearsney won the toss and elected to bat first on a very green looking pitch with plenty of grass on offer for the fast bowlers.

After 16 overs of play in the first session, speculation of a batting pitch did Kearsney no favours and the home-side slumped to 25 for 5 wickets courtesy of tight bowling by Westville’s Tyron Koen. Koen took 4 wickets in 5 overs ripping through the top order of Kearsney, bowling some unplayable deliveries.

Star KZN and Kearsney batsman, James Tedder,  was the only stalwart  in Kearsney’s batting line-up showing patience and resistance at the crease  eventually scoring a half century taking his team to modest total of 147 all out.

The star of the bowling innings was once again Tyron Koen finishing with figures of 5 for 23 off 10 overs. Tyron was well supported by Blake Alston Stewart 3 for 21 and Dylan Beavan 1 for 22 of 10 overs . Jack Reinbach also had a great day behind the stumps taking 2 match winning catches. Both of these catches were at full length diving with one hand.

Westville got off to a poor start chasing Kearsney’s total, losing Kiashen Govender early on for two runs. This brought inform batsman Craig Schlemmer to the crease.

Schlemmer didn’t waste any time and showed good form getting off the mark with a crunching cover drive for a boundary. A promising partnership of 25 developed between Luke Bowman and Schlemmer but ended after a poor LBW decision.  This brought Koen to the crease with some work to do and Westville in a spot of bother with the score on 40 for 2.

Koen showing his class early and stamped his authority on the run chase , quickly moving to 20 supported  supported by Bowman. Koen stepped up a few gears and decided to put pressure on the in-experienced back- up bowlers from Kearsney.

With the weather closing in and light deteriorating, Koen decided to up the run rate got to a classy half century. He ended his innings on 75 not out from 80 balls, and Luke Bowman on 32. Westville beat Kearsney with 4 wickets in hand and 12 overs remaining.

1st Kearsney 146/10, Koen 5/23, Alston Stewart 3/21, Tedder 70

1st WBHS 150/6, Bowman 31, Koen 75*

Westville won by 4 wickets.