Ken Borland

Assupol Tuks took their dominance of South African club and universities cricket for the last three years on to a global stage at the end of July as they won the Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals at the Oval in London.

For Aiden Markram and Corbin Bosch, it was their second World Cup triumph of the year, following their victory with the South Africa U19 team at the ICC Junior World Cup in the United Arab Emirates in March. The Campus Cricket World Finals are effectively a Varsity T20 World Cup, with the student champions from eight nations taking part.

While Markram and Bosch, and other star players such as Theunis de Bruyn, Vincent Moore and Heinrich Klaasen all enjoyed excellent tournaments for Tuks, their heroes in the crucial knockout stage were two of their lesser-known players, Johan Wessels and Ruben Claassen.

Tuks had breezed into the semi-finals by beating Bangladesh’s University of the Liberal Arts, hosts Leeds Bradford MCCU and the Jamaica Inter-Collegiate Sports Association, but they had their hands full when they took on defending champions Rizvi College of Mumbai in the final four.

Rizvi had won the toss and elected to bat first, and had cruised to 83 for two in the 12^th over before Tuks regained control through spinners Claassen and David Mogotlane.

Lanky off-spinner Claassen produced a brilliant spell of 4-1-10-2, with Mogotlane adding pressure with four overs for just 20 runs, and the Indian team’s lower-order then collapsed to the canny death bowling of Bosch (2-26) and Moore to finish on 122 for nine.

The Tuks run-chase had an anxious start openers Markram and Gerry Pike were out in the first three overs, before De Bruyn (31) and Wessels steadied the innings with a third-wicket stand of 54 in 7.2 overs.

But the loss of three wickets in quick succession, including captain De Bruyn, meant Tuks were under pressure at 90 for five after 15 overs.

But Klaasen (18* off 12) and the inspired Wessels (56* off 52) mounted a rousing comeback that took Tuks home in the 20th over.

In the final, the Tuks total of 188 for six against the Jamaica Inter-Collegiate Sports Association was built around a ferocious 61 off 40 balls from Wessels.

Pacemen Moore and Bosch then shared seven wickets as the Jamaicans were restricted to 148 for nine in their 20 overs.

Much of the hard work, however, was done by the outstanding Claassen, who took one for 10 in four overs.

Markram, who finished as the tournament’s second highest run-scorer behind De Bruyn, had given the Tuks innings a good start, after they had won the toss, with his 33 off 26 balls, but Wessels, who has no first-class experience nor national U19 caps, kept the scoreboard ticking over and then accelerated brilliantly as the University of Pretoria students posted a formidable total.

Dickson scored 39 off 31 balls to finish the job, while Tian Koekemoer and Bosch provided important cameos right at the death.

Coach Pierre de Bruyn was full of praise for Wessels, the 22-year-old who was superb on finals day, and Claassen.

“It’s the guys without the reputations who really stood up on the final day. Joe Wessels is proving to be a very good player, he played two magnificent innings in the knockout games and I’m ecstatic for him. I used him as a bit of a wildcard and he’s really impressed me as a cricketer.

“Ruben out-bowled everybody in the tournament, including the spinners from the sub-continent. He and Corbin Bosch were the top two wicket-takers and Ruben has improved so much. He’s unique, he’s tall, he gets bounce and he’s not scared to experiment,” De Bruyn said.

While Wessels was named man of the match in both the semi-final and final, Theunis de Bruyn was selected as the Player of the Tournament, having set the tone for Tuks’ triumph with a phenomenal 137 not out off 60 balls against the Bangladeshis on the opening day.

“We’ve had three years of dominance in South Africa and now we wanted to represent our country and measure ourselves on the world stage. I’m over the moon to be able to say we are the best university cricket team in the world, but we worked for it,” coach De Bruyn said.

“We planned for everything and we proved ourselves to everyone. I’m proud of the success and the culture of this team, and nobody can take that away from this side.”

Assupol Tukkies showed Australian-like ruthlessness as they wrapped up their place in the Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals by hammering Steinhoff Maties by seven wickets with four overs to spare in their second match at the University of Pretoria on Wednesday.

Having also won the first game on Tuesday by seven wickets, Tukkies will now be South Africa’s ambassadors in the World Finals to be played at the Oval in London in July.

South Africa U19 captain Aiden Markram was once again the man of the match, leading Tukkies to their target of 107 with a swift 57, his second half-century of the finals.

Captain Theunis de Bruyn scored 36 off 34 balls, adding 84 for the second wicket with Markram off just 79 balls to break the back of the meagre target.

Tukkies had produced another excellent effort in the field to dismiss Maties for just 106. Vincent Moore, De Bruyn and Corbin Bosch bowled superbly with the new ball to reduce the Stellenbosch University students to 28 for four in the fifth over.

Having only managed to post a moderate 118 for four in the first game, Maties opted to go on all-out attack from the outset, after being sent in to bat, but the move backfired badly.

The lack of balance in their game plan saw Gideon Conradie (10) edging De Bruyn into the slips, Keegan Petersen (6) driving left-armer Moore straight to cover, Jean Bredenkamp (1) falling in similar fashion off De Bruyn, and captain Emile Kriek (8) was then bowled by Bosch’s fourth delivery.

It had been a ferocious, ruthless start to the game by Tukkies and their focus did not slip even though Leon le Roux (32) and Niel Botha (23) added 52 for the seventh wicket off 47 balls to sneak Maties into three figures.

Tukkies’ brilliance in the field also allowed them to effect three run outs, GC Pretorius scoring a direct hit to run out the dangerous Dewald Botha for 3, while Moore and wicketkeeper Gerry Pike also caught batsmen short.

Moore, who made an impressive debut for the Titans franchise in four-day cricket this year, excelled with two for 16 in four overs, while Bosch, a key member of Markram’s SA U19 team that won the ICC Junior World Cup in Dubai, was brilliant as well, finishing with two for 15 in 3.5 overs.

De Bruyns was hit for a six and a four by Conradie in his first over, but did well to finish with two for 30 in his four overs.

The spinners, Tian Koekemoer (2-0-3-0) and Pretorius (2-0-10-1) also did a good job for Tukkies once the pacemen came off.

The University of Pretoria’s chase was off to the best of starts as the powerfully-built Markram pulled the second ball of the innings, from James Groom, for six and the score was already 19 when Pike slapped Riyaad Henry into the covers and was caught for 8 by Dewald Botha in the second over.

Markram, strong on the drive and lethal against anything short, cleared the boundary twice and picked up four fours, while the hard-hitting De Bruyn collected three fours and a six.

The duo were both dismissed with the target in sight, but the job had well and truly been done by then.

Paceman Henry was the best of the Maties bowlers with one for 14 in three overs.