It’s going to be Matthew Montgomery’s third Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Week, and this year he will be participating as the captain of the KwaZulu-Natal Coastal team in the annual schools inter-provincial festival in Cape Town from 16 to 20 December, writes THEO GARRUN.

Montgomery admits that his first time, as an U17 back in 2015, was not a good week, but last year it went much better.

‘I made two 70s and a 50 and was selected for the SA Colts team, so I had a good week, and I’m hoping for another this year,’ he said.

If his form for his school, Clifton, is anything to go by, he will certainly be one to watch. He averaged over 50 and made two hundreds as he led the side to what he describes as a ‘quite good’ season.

‘We are a small school and we battle for depth, but we still did quite well. We beat Affies and St Andrew’s of Grahamstown, which were good results for us, but we relied on two or three players too often to be consistently good,’ he said.

He is excited about the KZN Coastal’s prospects in Cape Town.

‘We have five players back from last year’s team, so we have the experience, and two of them have played for the SA U19 team this year. Andile Mogakane was in the team that went to the World Cup, and Thamsanqa Khumalo went on the SA U19 tour to England in July.

The pair are joined by Montgomery, Caleb Pillay and Lifa Ntanzi, who are back from last year’s team.

They didn’t do too well in 2017, Matthew said. They drew the two ‘time cricket’ games and won one of the T20s, but lost the rest of their games.

‘We are determined to better this year and I think we have the team to do so.’

Matthew, who made his senior provincial debut for the Dolphins at the Africa T20 Cup, is hoping for inclusion in the Dolphins Academy next year.

‘It depends on me performing at the Coke Week, and if I’m selected at the Cubs Week early next year,’ he added.

As an SA Colts player from last year, the SA Schools selectors will be watching him carefully, and if everything goes to plan, an SA U19 cap is also a possibility.

KZN Coastal team
Caleb Pillay (Westville)
Thamsanqa Khumalo (Glenwood)
Matthew Montgomery (Clifton)
Andile Mogakane (Northwood)
Matthew Pollard (Westville)
Mhlengi Ndaba (Christian High School)
Joshua Brown (Clifton College)
Prealin Naidu (Kharwastan)
Robert Koenig (Kearsney)
Steven Naidoo (Glenwood)
Lifa Ntanzi (Glenwood)
Carl Heunis (Kearsney)
Hayden Rossouw (Glenwood)
Coach: Mduduzi Mbatha
Asst coach:Fabian Lazarus
Manager: Gregory Thomson

Photo: Theo Garrun