THE HEAT IS ON AS WESTERN CAPE PHASE 2 HITS OUDTSHOORN

It’s the Western Cape’s turn to produce their Schools SA20 National Finalists and the action will unfold in Oudtshoorn this weekend (24-26 January).

Sweltering conditions are set to welcome the six boys and three girls teams who’ve converged upon the Klein Karoo town.

The girls section will see home team Bridgton Hub (South Western Districts Phase 1 winners), Hoër Tegniese Skool Drostdy (Boland’s qualifiers) and Victoria Hub (Western Province champs) battle it out for a place in the National Finals – which Dr JL Dube High School (KwaZulu-Natal) and Saints Christian School (Central) have already qualified for.

All three girls teams reached this phase rather emphatically so will be quietly confident that they have what it takes to diary-block 12-15 March for the National Finals. Bridgton Hub will face Victoria Hub in the opening match of the weekend, allowing Drostdy a thorough look at both to formulate plans when they make their bow in the afternoon fixture against Bridgton. That clash – at the showpiece Recreation Ground - will have the added pressure of being broadcast live on linear television, DStv Channel 216.

By Saturday morning, Bridgton will hope to have accumulated enough points to reach the afternoon’s final (scheduled for 14:00 at ‘the Rec’), rather than hoping for the best while nervously watching Victoria vs Drostdy.

The boys section, meanwhile, has been divided into two pools, with all six teams playing the two other teams in their pool which will count for points and a cross-pool match which won’t.

Home team, Bridgton Hub (SWD Phase 1 winners) find themselves in Pool A alongside South African College High School – SACS (who won the Western Province leg) and Paarl Gimnasium (Boland’s runners-up). Pool B sees Paarl Boys’ High School (Boland champs) grouped with two Phase 1 runners-up in D’Almeida Hub (SWD) and Bishops Diocesan College (WP).

Bridgton vs SACS will be the boys section’s first showpiece match (live on DStv Channel at 10:00 on Friday from Recreation Ground), while Paarl Gim and Bishops will be able to get any travel rustiness out of their system in a cross-pool match the same time, without the pressure of falling behind on points.

Come the afternoon, Bridgton and ‘Boishaai’ will again have to be switched on as they complete their ‘counts-for-points’ fixtures against Paarl Gim and Bishops respectively.

On Saturday morning (09:30), the battle for semifinal places will take place in earnest – with D’Almeida Hub vs Bishops being showcased on DStv Channel 216 from Recreation Ground while across town SACS and ‘Gimmies will meet at Bridgton Sports Ground. Bridgton Hub and Paarl Boys’ will meet at Hoërskool Oudtshoorn hoping that at least one more match will await them later in the day.

Of course, those semifinals (14:00) will see some hearts broken but not as much as for the runners-up of the region’s final – as only the Western Cape winners will secure a ticket to Tuks for the National Finals.  

WHERE TO WATCH

All 16 matches across the three days will be streamed, live on the SuperSport Schools App (click here), while four of them will also be broadcast live on DStv Channel 216 – including both finals.

WHEN TO WATCH

DID YOU KNOW?

During Phase 1, only Bridgton Hub and Pearson High School (Eastern Province) saw both their boys and girls team progress. Impressively, both Bridgton teams - sponsored by Proteas and Sunrisers Eastern Cape bowler Ottneil Baartman - qualified for the regionals as their respective divisions’ winners.