SACS and Wynberg Boys’ High were the only two unbeaten teams at the 49th annual Cape Schools Cricket Week hosted by Wynberg in Cape Town.
Five teams from each of the Eastern Cape and Western Cape took each other on in four days of top-quality schoolboy cricket. Wynberg played host to the festival, with Paarl Boys’ High, Rondebosch Boys’ High, SACS and Bishops providing extra fields to accommodate the matches.
The visiting teams from the East – Dale College, Grey High, Queen’s College, Selborne College and Union High – were accompanied by local teams in Paarl Boys’ High, Paul Roos Gymnasium, Rondebosch, SACS and Wynberg.
SACS and Wynberg emerged as the only two unbeaten teams, with SACS being the only team to win all four of their matches.
Boasting old boys such as Peter Kirsten, Alan Dawson and Dane Piedt, SACS have a fine cricketing history. Their 2016 Cape Schools Week could not have been any better, beating Grey High, Union High, Dale College and Queen’s College in fairly convincing fashion.
Their victory over Grey High on the opening day would have been particularly pleasing, as the Port Elizabeth school have for many a year been one of the dominant teams in the country.
Opening batsmen Greg Willows and Matthew Begg were among the standouts for SACS at the week, scoring 196 and 209 runs respectively in four innings apiece. Willows top scored with 115 to help SACS reach 300 in the final match against Dale, whilst his 51 contributed to a 108 run opening stand against Grey in which Begg made an unbeaten 90. Begg scored further half centuries against Queen’s (68 not out) as well as against Union High (51 not out) in a rollicking 10-wicket win.
Wynberg won three of their four matches against their Eastern Cape opposition, drawing their Day two match with Grey High. Their victories over Queen’s, Union High and Selborne were all empathic, with the Cape Tonians winning all three by a margin of greater than 150 runs.
The hosts produced four centurions at the Cape Schools Week in the form of Karl Vermeulen (101 vs Queen’s), Josh Breed (101 vs Queen’s), Kyle Lamb (138 vs Union) and Riaz Palekar (102 vs Selborne). Breed also took 7-46 in the match against Union High, whilst Umar Anthony claimed Wynberg’s other five-for on Day 4 against Selborne.
Grey High were arguably the most impressive Eastern Cape team once again. Having lost to SACS on the opening day, they drew with Wynberg before claiming nine-wicket victories over both Paarl Boys’ High and Rondebosch.
Matthew Breetzke was once again a standout for Grey, scoring back-to-back hundreds on the final two days against Paarl Boys’ High and Rondebosch to accompany his 66 against Wynberg.
Jarryd Lookwhy (Grey) and Hamza Saloojee (Rondebosch) were the other two centurions at the week, whilst Ryan Reingeld (Selborne), Siyabonga Matanda (Queen’s), Daniel Moriarty (Rondebosch), Campbell de Wet (Grey) and Aidan Wright (Selborne) claimed five-fors.
Also worth noting were the performances of Thando Ntini, son of former Protea legend Makhaya Ntini. The young Selbornian chimed in with both bat and ball for the East London school, with his 3-9 and 45 helping his side to a three-wicket win over Paul Roos on Day three.
Once again the Cape Schools Week was a resounding success and thanks to the weather, all 10 teams managed to get in some excellent match practice ahead of the 2016-17 season.
Photo: Michael Sheehan/Gallo Images
