Mudenda sparkles as St Stithians overcomes St John’s in thriller

Liam Mudenda scored a brilliant ton as he steered St Stithians College to a two-wicket victory over St John’s College in their 50-over match on Saturday. St John’s, who won the toss and elected to bat first, scored 260/9 in 50 overs. In reply, St Stithians needed all 50 overs to score the required 261 runs to seal the victory. They lost eight wickets in the process.

Both teams came into the tie on the back of wins in their final matches at the Oppenheimer Michaelmas Cricket Week. However, St John’s was leading 1 – 0 in head-to-head encounters played this year. The two sides have met twice already this year, but it was in T20 matches. St John’s won the first encounter and the second was abandoned due to inclement weather.

Mudenda was out in the middle for 49.1 overs and would have shepherded his side to victory had it not been for Malan du Plessis, who dismissed him with five balls to go in the match and his side in need of four runs to win. The opener creamed nine fours and five sixes on his way to an evenly paced 113 off 141 deliveries.

Mudenda lost three partners before he shared a match-winning stand with Ombesa Matsha. The pair compiled a 113-run fourth-wicket partnership that did not just stabilise the St Stithians innings, it also set them on course for victory. Matsha's 66-ball 67 was invaluable to the St Stithians cause.

Du Plessis almost upset St Stithians’ march to victory when he delivered two outstanding overs at the death. The bowler claimed his first wicket in the 48th over. The wicket slightly opened a window for St John’s to find their way back. Then he sent down a brilliant final over, which he began with the dismissal of St Stithians’ set batter. Mudenda’s dismissal caused panic and St Stithians lost two more wickets via run out in the over.

Fortunately for St Stithians, Oliver Wilson had the presence of mind to place the ball into the gap and ran the required two runs for victory.

Earlier in the day, St John’s found it hard to get going. Four of their top six batters got starts but failed to kick on. Michael Stubbs (19) and Nkosana Sibiya (16) made it to double figures before they were dismissed, Alec Loveland (21) made it past 20 and Darshik Lutchman made 34.

James Yuill (60) and Ethan Robinson (73) arrested the start-stop nature of the innings with a 112-run seventh-wicket partnership that made it possible for St John’s to post a competitive total. Unfortunately for St John’s, they were about 10 runs short of a winning total and needed one of their top six batters to have the same innings as Mudenda.

Taseen Hanslo was St Stithians’ best bowler with two wickets for 35 runs in 10 overs. Tom Collins also bagged a brace but conceded 38 runs in nine overs.

Summarised Scorecard:

St John’s College 260/9 (Ethan Robinson 73, James Yuill 60; Taseen Hanslo 2/35, Tom Collins 2/38) St Stithians College 261/8 (Liam Mudenda 113, Ombesa Matsha 67; Ethan Robinson 2/47, Malan du Plessis 2/51) St Stithians College won by two wickets.