Cale Price struck an imperious century and James Fullbrook captured a six-wicket haul as Pearson overran Kingswood by an emphatic 228 runs in their schools first team cricket match at Pearson on Saturday.

Price’s ton powered Pearson to a formidable 386/6 in their 50 overs, and then Fullbrook took charge with the ball as Pearson skittled Kingswood for 158 in 28.1 overs.

Price opened the batting with Callum Peltenburg but did not face a ball until the third over, with his partner, who ended with 39, facing the first 12 balls of the innings.

However, when he got his opportunity, Price responded like a player who had paid attention to what he had seen and was eager to put the lessons he had learnt to good use while making up for lost time.

He blocked the first three balls he faced before getting off the mark with a boundary, and never looked back.

In a stay of 109 balls, Price struck 18 fours and five sixes which made up 102 runs of his outstanding knock of 145. He spent just under 35 overs in the middle and was part of two match-defining partnerships.

The first was the opening stand of 124 with Peltenburg from only 88 balls. That was followed by a partnership of 132 with Connor Thomas, whose contribution was 35 runs.

Callum Armstrong ensured the momentum was maintained when Price was out, hitting 59 from just 44 balls and adding 89 runs for the fifth wicket with Zaine Scholtz, who chipped in with 38.

Kingswood had a mountain to climb, needing to score at 7,74 runs an over to win. Fullbrook made sure they didn’t come close.

After becoming the fifth bowler to take the ball, he ripped through Kingswood’s middle-order before destroying their tail on his way to a match-winning haul of 6/33 in 10 overs.

That included two maidens and 42 dot balls, and it was this ability to keep Kingswood’s batters quiet for lengthy periods that forced them into making mistakes.

Fullbrook could thank Jean Schultz for laying the platform as he dismissed both Kingswood openers – Daniel Jakins for 15 and Simon Sheard, whose 58 was the top score of their innings.

They shared an opening stand of 60 before Jakins went in the 10th over, followed by Sheard two overs later. Their exits started Kingswood’s slide.

From 82/2 they fell to 158 all out as the last eight wickets went for 76 runs. Chris Zimmerman added 25 and Chad Roodt chipped in with 20.

Schultz’s important spell brought him 2/23 from his four overs, while Armstrong and Scholtz took a wicket each.

Meanwhile, the Pearson girls’ first XI have been crowned Eastern Province champions in the SA20 Schools Cricket competition after beating Woodridge by 66 runs.

Batting first, Pearson posted 161/5 in their allotted overs, with Cayleigh Wanckel top-scoring with 52 off 45 balls and Kayla McLagan contributing 46 off 38.

Woodridge replied with 95/9, as Wanckel produced an outstanding bowling performance, taking five wickets for just seven runs. Zane Swanepoel also chipped in with 1/19.

The victory sees Pearson progress to the next phase, where they will face the winners of the Border and Kei section. - additional reporting by SuperSportschools.com