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

Westville won the toss on an overcast day and put St Charles in to bat first on a pitch that looked as if it would get better for batting as the day wore on. The home team got off to a very good start, building lots of pressure and making good use of the bowling friendly conditions. The bowlers put on good performances, 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 4 wickets for 33 runs, continuing with his excellent form. The previous week, against Maritzburg College, he had figures of 4 for 25 off 10 overs.

St Charles eventually managed to get to 195 runs with a good partnership of 70 runs for the 6th wicket.

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.

Chad Carney

Chad Carney

He looked set to get his maiden century for the 1st Team but a miscommunication between himself and Scott at the other end, resulted in Carney being run out. Scott also made a very valuable contribution of 32.

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