The most commonly written cricket report, it is said, is: “Rain interrupted play!”; and while its true of a dozen of the fourteen matches slated for play between old rivals Hilton College and Michaelhouse on the weekend, a few teams managed to squeeze in some solid performances before the weather intervened; and some – House’s firsts, U15A and U14A among them – might have felt that they’d done enough for eventual wins.
Cricket:
On the Hart-Davis Oval, Michaelhouse batting first engineered a defendable 194/8, bolted together by a captain’s knock of 69 from Murray Baker and supported by gritty innings from Basti Hofmeyr (43) and Thomas Mitchell (35*). The seconds, similarly, on the back of Luke Payne’s 3/35 (10) would have felt that Hilton’s target of 130 (50) was well within range. The thirds and fourths also found their results consigned to obscurity by the weather. As did the U16A (Ethan Muir 49), B, and C results.
Batting first, House’s U15A boys quickly found themselves with their backs against the wall on 8/2. Character knocks form Ben Heuer (113) and Graydon Leslie (77) guided their team to beyond 220 with a few cameo innings seeing the team through to a very competitive 256/6 before rain interfered exactly half way through the 47th over. A rash of runouts restricted Hilton’s U15B boys to 106/7 off their 40 before the inevitable call to bring on the covers. Not even the weather could prevent House’s U15C who were a force of nature in reducing their competition to 18 all out. Hurricane Harry Porter closed off his season with figures of 7/5 (3) and chipped in with a catch to help blow the opposition from the park before his side chased down the target in a handful of balls.
House’s U14A lads accumulated a good 215/8, but in what had become a predictable scenario on the day were forced to call it quits before coming away with a result. Ditto the U14Bs. House’s U14C boys though, managed a one wicket win to ensure the second result of the day going Michaelhouse’s way.
Basketball:
Michaelhouse were dominant in the open age group on the basketball court, winning five of the six fixtures, including the firsts turning a one-point halftime defect into a one point 70-69 fulltime win, their tenth over Hilton College on the trot.
House’s U16A boys were in rampant form turning their two narrow losses in U15 into a barnstorming 38-18 win. The U16B, C, and D sides all enjoyed determined wins for a clean sweep in the age category. It was a mixed bag of results for Michaelhouse in the age group below with a 40% win ratio including a confident 51-27 win in the A game. Hilton’s U14A lads pulled off their first win over House in six years with a good 32-25 scoreline; and proved their depth in winning all five clashes in the age group.
Water Polo:
Waterpolo fixtures were again largely festival events around the country; House’s best return being a fighting 6-7 loss to Bishops in the fifth/sixth place playoff at the Indigo U15 Tournament held at Parktown.
Photos are of the Michaelhouse U15A waterpolo team at the Indigo Tournament in Gauteng.
Sports report compiled by Michaelhouse.
Image 1:First XI all rounder, Tom Mitchell in action on the Hart-Davis Oval at Hilton College on the weekend.