SA School Sports

The Graeme College First Team rewrote the history books this weekend when they clinched the Shaw/Brown T20 Trophy for the first time.

The St Andrew’s College 1^st XI lost the toss vs. Queen’s College on Saturday th 8th February,  and was put into bat on fresh Lower Field pitch at St Andrew’s College.

The Kingswood and St Andrew’s College 1^st XI sides, opted to tweak the format of their declaration match this year, and started a two-day fixture with an extra session, on the Friday afternoon. They would then include a 5-wicket second innings, as played in the current national weeks, with no forced declaration on the first innings.

The St.Andrew College 1^st XI took the early advantage on Saturday, 18 January, 2014 when they lost the toss in their annual match against Muir College.

Eastern Province captain Lloyd Brown will be playing in his second Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Cricket Week in Durban this week.

The Grey/ Kingswood fixture this weekend, the 9th November, 2013, ended up being an unbelievable contest going down to the final delivery of the day. In a match that swung both ways constantly throughout the day, Grey fought back from what looked like certain defeat to claim a nail-biting tie off the last ball. Both teams deserve massive credit for a sublime cricket contest.

Match report St.Andrews College vs. Grey High School (9th March 2013)

 On Saturday College lost what proved to be an important toss on Lower field. Grey had no hesitation in electing to bowl first and progressively used the healthy grass covering honing in on off stump. St Andrew’s lost their Captain, Andrew Rushmere caught behind early on through a good delivery from Jonathan Draai. The in form Murray Leith joined Charl Pellissier at the crease and looked threatening striking 3 boundaries but Dylan Blignaut also found his outside edge with an accurate delivery on off stump.

At morning Tea College were 67/3 and looked like composing a competitive total, but it was going to be a tough challenge against the accurate Grey bowlers in useful bowling conditions.

The St Andrew’s  middle order succumbed to pressure after tea through some lose strokes and tight bowling. Jonathan Draai (4/17) and Sam Mkumbuzi (4/13) tore through the remaining batsman dismissing College for a disappointing 83 all out.

College, a little shell shocked at the break knew they had to have a full attempt with the new ball to have any chance of unsettling the Grey batting line up. Sintu Manjezi and Brian Ferguson ran in hard moving the ball around, but were a little impatient. Grey’s Captain, Lloyd Brown had the correct approach looking to jump on any lose deliveries. He held Grey’s innings together with a superb 50 off 76 balls. The College bowlers picked up 5 wickets and rued not having something in the region of 140 to defend as conditions still remained bowling friendly. Grey’s discipline and determination in exploiting the conditions saw them home with a well-deserved win by 5 wickets.

It was St Andrew’s College’s first loss of successful season in the declaration and 50 over formats and they would have enjoyed a stronger finish, but they can feel hungry for the year ahead which includes a UK tour in July/July.

The Grey High 1st XI clashed with the fast improving Noord Kaap side from Kimberley in a declaration match this past Sunday in a match that would test Grey all the way.

St Andrew's College finished off their Zimbabwean Cricket Tour on a high note.

The small town of Grahamstown in the poverty stricken Eastern Cape will most certainly have something to write home about in the next couple of years. If everything goes according to plan they will be able to lay testament to nurturing and producing one of South Africa's up and coming young cricket sensations. To be more direct, the real credit will be given to St Andrew's College, one of South Africa's oldest educational institutions for they have developed James Price from the tender age of 5.