Cape Cricket Peninsula Festival

The festival was a valuable pre-season tour, providing our players with exposure to high-pressure matches and the opportunity to refine their skills. Our gratitude goes to the parents for their unwavering support, enabling the boys to participate in this memorable experience.

1st XI
Our teams had the privilege of participating in the prestigious Cape Peninsula Festival, hosted this year by Wynberg High School. The festival, known for its challenging conditions and high-level competition, provided invaluable experience as we faced some of the best school teams in the country over five matches.

Match 1: vs Bishops Diocesan College
Bishops posted a competitive 171, and despite notable performances, we fell short by 38 runs. Z Hanslo delivered an exceptional bowling spell, taking 6/33 in 10.2 overs, while M Anderson contributed a quickfire 43* at the back end of the innings.

Match 2: vs Wynberg Boys’ High School
Facing Wynberg at the Jacques Kallis Oval under overcast conditions, we were comprehensively outplayed. Their opening bowlers delivered an outstanding performance, bowling us out for 73. Wynberg secured a dominant victory by 10 wickets.

Match 3: vs Paul Roos Gymnasium
Traveling to Stellenbosch, we restricted Paul Roos to 214/10. Emphasizing accountability, young T Collins rose to the occasion with a brilliant 102*, supported by N Bayly’s 49*. Their partnership guided us to a convincing 6-wicket victory.

Match 4: vs Rondebosch Boys’ High School
Rondebosch posted a formidable 282/6. Our batting lineup struggled to build partnerships, with N Bayly standing out with a superb 102*. Despite our best efforts, we fell 56 runs short of the target.

Match 5: vs St Charles College (T20)
In the final match, a T20 fixture, we restricted St Charles to 148/8. Chasing the target, Captain, T Hanslo delivered a breathtaking knock of 93* off just 33 balls, steering us to victory in 11.1 overs with 8 wickets in hand.

U15A
The week began with an exciting, spontaneous trip to Newlands Cricket Ground to watch our fellow Saints brothers represent the Proteas. Touring Cape Town is always challenging for our boys, with variable and unknown conditions.

In a tough first fixture against Bishops, we posted 198/10 after 55 overs. At 31/4, D Le Roux and C Collins rescued us, scoring 47 and 42 respectively. M Cashargen and C Bernhardi made valuable contributions at the backend of the innings, giving us a total to defend. D Le Roux shone with the ball, returning figures of 3 for 22 in 11 overs. However, Bishops chased down the score in 50 overs.

The following day, a time fixture against Wynberg saw a much-improved approach to the format. In trouble early on while batting first, C Collins understood what was required and played a mature innings, scoring 84 off 153 balls. He was well supported by A Theocharides, who scored 55, giving us 227/8 in our allotted 65 overs. D Le Roux and C Collins set the tone upfront, each picking up two wickets, but Luke Thomas was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4 for 24 in 17 overs.

A trip to Boland to play against Paul Roos in a 50-over fixture saw the boys struggle on a slow outfield, managing to scrape 154/7 after 50 overs. The team always believed they were in the game and backed themselves to defend a low total. Bowling Paul Roos out for 113 in 37 overs, D Le Roux and C Collins were once again among the wickets, with Le Roux picking up 4 and Collins 3, leading the team to victory.

Playing all these teams on their home ground added to the challenge. In our fourth game in four days against Rondebosch, we faced a strong batting side on a flat wicket. Rondebosch batted first and posted 303/5 after 50 overs. A favourable batting wicket gave us hope of chasing down the total. After 42 overs, we were on 208/6 and the chase was on. However, an unfortunate injury saw the game called off with no result.

On the last day, a T20 fixture against St Charles saw us end the tour positively. Defending 99, we restricted St Charles to 82/6 after 20 overs. Overall, a competitive week of cricket saw the boys well-prepared for the start of the season.

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