St Andrews won their third Senior Schools Final at Anglesea Road yesterday. In a somewhat one-sided affair which did not do justice to the efforts of Wesley College, St Andrews lifted their first Senior League trophy since 1979 in what was an excellent all-round team performance.
St Andrews batted first and made a solid start putting on 50 before they lost their first wicket. Their top four batsmen all made runs with Jack Balbirnie scoring 32, Matthew Quirke 39, David Watkins 24 and Vian Verwoerd 18. At 148 for 4 it looked as if St Andrew's might post a daunting total but Wesley fought back as the spin twins Kirk Shimmens and Aaron Copeland bowled tightly and accurately and St Andrew's collapsed to 155 all out. Aaron collected 5 wickets for 21 runs.
Unfortunately for Wesley their reply never really got going. They lost early wickets and only Josh van der Flier provided any resistance as Wesley were bowled out for 73. Right from the off St Andrews bowling and fielding was very impressive with David Watkins taking a remarkable 4-5 on a wicket that was turning out to be a spinner's paradise. Vian Verwoerd and Harry Balbirnie also bowled very well and finished with figures of 3-12 and 2-21 respectively. David Watkins deservedly received the man of the match award.