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1st XI at Cape Schools Cricket Week
On Friday 20 September Wynberg’s senior cricketers ventured forth into lands unknown to take on the best the Eastern Cape has to offer in this year’s edition of the Cape Schools Cricket Festival. The venue this time around was the arid, but picturesque Karoo town of Graaff-Reinet, which served up difficult, testing conditions for the players to negotiate.
After a long but uneventful drive, the boys checked into their digs at Union High School and readied themselves to take in the festival opener – a floodlit T20 between two invitational sides comprising players from either province. Cameron Tanner and Dominic Miles turned out for the Western Province XI and made a decisive impact with the ball, snaring two Eastern Province scalps to help the visitors secure a comprehensive win.
Wynberg’s festival got underway in earnest with a double-innings declaration match against Selborne College from East London. The Selborne skipper won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first on a dry pitch. Spin did the majority of the damage for Wynberg with off-spinner Cameron Tanner picking up an extraordinary 4 wickets for 5 runs. Youngster Jesse Prodehl grabbed 3 of his own to leave Selborne all out for 158. Wynberg didn’t fare much better, being dismissed for 164. Opening batsman, Tanner hit a well-played 53. Selborne then went about setting Wynberg a target in the hope of bowling them out to earn an outright win. Chasing 102, Wynberg ended up on 58-4 when stumps were pulled, ensuring an opening win on the first innings. A solid start to the festival.
Next up were Wynberg’s strongest opponents, Grey High School from Port Elizabeth. Unbelievably, rain delayed the start of proceedings by over an hour, and the contest was reduced to a 50 overs-a-side affair. Wynberg won the toss and elected to bat first. A lack of application at the crease and some disciplined bowling from Grey meant Wynberg could only muster 151-9. Grey made light work of the target, reaching it for the loss of just three wickets in the 28th over. A performance to forget.
Queen’s College was Wynberg’s third opponent, who having beaten Paarl Boys’ High the day before, would be no walkover. Skipper Raees Carr won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first on another dry surface which only deteriorate as the match wore on. Wynberg posted an impressive 229-10 in 63 overs, with Craig Jeffery making 80 and the skipper himself adding an impressive 52. Queens were never really in the contest and Carr backed up his batting effort with four wickets to help restrict Queens to 152 all out which gave the Cape Town side another win on the first innings.
Wynberg’s final match of the festival saw them take on the hosts, Union High in a 50-overs contest. Union won the toss and opted to have a bat. Dominic Miles was again in superb form with the ball taking 4-20 and Jared Southgate chipped in with two poles of his own to bundle the locals out for a paltry 97. Despite a wobbly start, the Wynberg batters, led by Bevan Coveley (39*), reached the target with 27 overs to spare.
Despite the tough conditions, the boys gave a good account of themselves. The majority of the side played some quality cricket at times and this certainly augurs well for the remainder of the year.
#WynbergMedia report by Mr Patrick Smith
Stayers XI at the Oakhill T20 Tournament
Friday 20 September 2019: Wynberg Stayers XI departed early on Friday morning for Knysna to participate in the annual Oakhill T20 Tournament.
Over the duration of the festival, Wynberg was to play: Oakhill, Grey High School, SACS, and Parklands College.
The first match against Oakhill Wyngerg won easily by 96 runs. Seb Volans scored a well-played 67. Next was Grey. Wynberg chased down their total of 95 within 16 overs to win by 6 wickets. The next match against SACS was interrupted by rain with Wynberg chasing 120, and the match against Parklands was completely rained out. Rain, once again, had the final say on the last day as we only managed to get in a T10 against Bishops. With a wet pitch and outfield, our Stayers could only muster 43 runs. Bishops got off to a good start and secured victory in the 6th over.
Aidan Leak was voted Most Valued Player in the Wynberg side with 6 wickets and an economy rate under 4 runs an over. Abdul Abrahams won the catch of the tournament award. (An absolute cracker of a catch against SACS one-handed, both feet off the ground.) The Stayers XI also won the Sportsmanship award for showing true spirit and sportsmanship on and off the field.
Many friendships were formed and memories made. Wynberg thanks Oakhill for hosting a most enjoyable tournament.
#WynbergMedia report by Mr Chris Moore
U15A at the Grey High School Cricket Festival
The U15A cricket side enjoyed a successful tour to Port Elizabeth. They played 4 matches, won one, lost one, and had two matches abandoned.
They started off strongly against Woodridge College, winning the declaration match by 4 wickets. Woodridge was dismissed for 163 in 62 overs. Cullan Larkin took 5 wickets for 36 runs in the innings. Wynberg went in to bat and was never going to be able to bat more than 40 overs to chase down the total because of potential bad light. They reached the target in the 36th over with 6 wickets down. Liam Coetzee scored an unbeaten 65 and Juan James, the captain, scored 53 runs at a run a ball to help his side over the line.
The second day was a rain interrupted match against Selborne College. The match changed from a declaration match to a 50 over match. Wynberg batted first and reached 193 for 4 after 42 overs when the match was abandoned due to rain. Juan James was on an unbeaten 79 and had help from all the other batsmen chipping in with good starts.
The Monday saw Wynberg lose to a very good Hilton College side by 5 wickets in a 50 over match. Wynberg posted 166 after a tough start with Ryan Coetzer scoring 40 and Umayr Davids scoring an unbeaten 62. Wynberg was dismissed in the 40th over. This was always going to be a tough total to defend as they did not make use of all their overs. Hilton College passed the mark in the 40th over with 5 wickets down.
The tour finished off with a T20 match against Grey College. Grey batted first and posted 145 for 5 in their 20 overs. They got off to a flyer but were brought back well with Max Bing taking 3 wickets for 16 runs in his 4 overs. His 4 overs were bowled at the end of the innings, making his figures even more impressive. Wynberg went in all guns blazing and were 117 for 4 when rain stopped play after 11 overs. Ryan Coetzer and Shane Dade got Wynberg off to a flying start with 30 runs off 14 balls and 42 runs off 25 balls respectively. Juan James also chipped in with 22 runs off 19 balls before the rain became too heavy to continue. The game was abandoned, but the Wynberg boys were well on their way to pull off a win.
The quality and intensity of play improved a lot during the tour and we look forward to seeing these boys in the last term of junior cricket before strengthening the senior squads in the coming years.
#WynbergMedia report by Mr Pietie Loubser
