Champions past and present collide on Titans girls finals day in rain Schools SA20

Four will become one on Monday, 2 November when Cornwall Hill College hosts the rain Schools SA20 Titans girls finals day.

Hoërskool Garsfontein, Mamelodi Hub, Soshanguve Hub and Hoërskool Zwartkop will compete for Titans’ single place in the regional Phase 2. Semifinal 1 (Garsfontein vs Soshanguve) and the Final at 18:00 on the Van der Byl Oval will get ‘feature match’ treatment live on DStv Channel 216. All three matches, including semifinal 2 between Zwartkop and Mamelodi, will also be livestreamed on the SuperSport Schools App.

Garsies are making their rain Schools SA20 debut in Volume 3. They did well to reach the last four, beating Hoërskool Montana and Atteridgeville Hub in Group A. Coach Odine van Biljon will hope their journey has two more wins left in it. But in Soshanguve Hub (14:00, Van der Byl Field) they face a semifinal opponent with real pedigree in this competition.

Soshanguve won the Titans title in Volume 1 and fell just short in last year’s semifinals. This time the ‘Sosh’ girls beat Hammanskraal Hub (two-time semifinalists themselves) and hosts Cornwall Hill (Titans’ Volume 2 runners-up) in Group B, so they arrive battle-hardened.

Zwartkop, meanwhile, are chasing a third consecutive rain Schools SA20 final when they meet Mamelodi Hub at 14:00 on Parke de Terrace. Soshanguve beat Amoné Muller’s charges by 8 wickets in the Volume 1 final. Last year Zwartkop turned the tables on them in the semifinals, then beat Cornwall Hill by 10 wickets in the final to secure their Phase 2 place.

This is Mamelodi’s second Titans semifinal. They lost to Soshanguve by 59 runs in Volume 1 and missed out last year. They finished second to Zwartkop in Group C, and their healthy run rate earned them the best runner-up spot. They already know what to expect from ‘Zwarries’: exactly a week ago, Zwartkop won the group match by just 9 runs. Monday afternoon may come down to who handles the cameras and the pressure of expectation better.

An intriguing day of cricket awaits, so tune in to see which team will take it all.