Falcon College Report, 2000

Cricket has maintained its status as a top sport in the College. We lost virtually the entire first term to rain, which set us back considerably in terms of team and player development. At least one can say that our cricket was sacrificed to a worthy cause, but the effects were definitely felt in the third term. For all that, the College produced some good cricket and some excellent performances, and the future is secure.

FIRST XI

2000 was always going to be a year of rebuilding. Nine of the 1999 team had left, and the team was young and inexperienced. Their performance through the year was uneven, but the development of the team was beyond doubt. By the third term the hesitant and introverted (on the field!) players that started the year seemed to realize that they were bona fide first eleven players, and played some fine cricket.

If their inexperience let them down on occasions, as on the slow Lomagundi wicket, they showed a strong ability to bounce back. This was emphasized over the third term Peterhouse weekend, when I believe the team came of age. Having been slaughtered by the very strong Peterhouse batting on the Saturday, they came back to win Sunday's game by eight wickets - and did so with flair, and no sign of intimidation from the experience of the previous day.

The batting developed into a strong force, with several players taking their opportunities and establishing their places. The fielding in general was very good - the best for some years. A feature was the very high percentage of slip catches held by Dane Swemmer, Mike Bryant and Arthur Harley. The bowling tended to be steady rather than penetrative, except when Jordane Nicolle was `on song'.

The rebuilding task has been successfully completed and a solid foundation laid for 2001. We look forward to next season with keen anticipation.

CRITIQUE OF FIRST ELEVEN

M Ferreira (captain): He has had the most difficult job of any first eleven captain in my experience at the College, and he did a very good job. In addition he produced some fine innings - almost always at an important time. I am sure that the cares of captaincy contributed to his poor bowling form, but his contribution to the team went beyond figures in the book. The teams of both 2000 and 2001 owe a great deal to his input this year.

M Bryant (vice-captain): His figures this year did not do justice to his talent, as much due to physical factors as anything. His talent is beyond doubt, though, and his experience was of great value to an inexperienced team.

J Nicolle: The player of the year. His progress to the Zimbabwe Under-19 team was remarkable. He was very quick, and as he developed rhythm and control he became a dangerous opening bowler. He also featured in two innings - salvaging partnerships with the bat. His bowling figures for 2000 read: 125.1 overs, 12 maidens, 528 runs, 33 wickets, 16.00 average.

D Swemmer: An unorthodox but effective batsman, and a fine slip fielder with a 100% catching record in the third term.

R Blythe-Wood: A hard-hitting and effective opening batsman. At his best, an outstanding fielder.

J Lucas: He had limited opportunities, but is a promising batsman and a sound fielder.

A Harley: A fine top-order batsman who did not enjoy good fortune this year. He shows promise with his left-arm spin, and held some good catches.

A Corken: He seized his opportunities and played some good innings. A good fielder.

B Joubert: He is a promising wicket-keeper, and is on the verge of some big innings.

K Ewing: He had a good year, establishing himself as a hard-hitting batsman and wicket-taking leg-spinner.

R Swemmer: He shows real promise as a left-arm opening bowler and a hard-hitting batsman.

G Strydom: New to the College, he showed potential and competence in his performances against Peterhouse.

R Millar: He deserves commendation for his commitment and enthusiasm as scorer.

Also played: S Wilson, M Springer, D Williams, S White. C Brownlee and I Austen left the College after the first term, after promising starts to their first-eleven careers.

AWARDS

Honours: J Nicolle.

Colours: M Ferreira, M Bryant.

50 Club: A Harley (re-award), R Blythe-Wood, D Swemmer, J Lucas, B Joubert, A Corken, K Ewing, R Swemmer.

REPRESENTATION

Zimbabwe Under-19: J Nicolle.

Matabeleland Under-19: M Ferreira, M Bryant, A Harley, K Ewing.

Selectors' XI: R Blythe-Wood, A Corken, R Swemmer.

Long trophy for Fielding: D Swemmer.

RESULTS

First Term:

FALCON 172/6d (D Swemmer 48*) drew (rain) with MILTON 26/8 (K Ewing 4/1).

FALCON 209/7d (M Bryant 52, K Ewing 44*) drew (rain) with PLUMTREE 139/5 (K Ewing 3/20).

St Alban's Festival - Pretoria

FALCON 126 (R Blythe-Wood 48) lost (on run rate) to KINGSWOOD 81/2 (18 overs).

FALCON 214/9d (I Austen 62, A Harley 33) drew with ST CHARLES 170/6 (R Swemmer 3/29).

ST JOHN'S (Johannesburg) 250/7 beat FALCON 105 (K Ewing 30) by 145 runs.

Prince Edward Festival

(40 overs) CHURCHILL 161/8 (J Nicolle 4/33) beat FALCON 157 (K Ewing 42) by 4 runs.

(50 overs) ST GEORGE'S 198 (M Bryant 4/33, J Nicolle 3/35) lost to FALCON 201/3 (A Corken 52*, M Bryant 48*) by seven wickets.

(50 overs) FALCON 251/7 (M Ferreira 67*, J Nicolle 33*) beat PRINCE EDWARD 227/8 (M Bryant 3/36) by 24 runs.

(50 overs) ST JOHN'S 207/8 (A Harley 3/33) beat FALCON 193 (B Joubert 33) by 14 runs.

Third Term:

(50 overs) FALCON 167 (J Nicolle 44*, R Swemmer 33, R Blythe-Wood 32) lost to LOMAGUNDI 171/3 by seven wickets.

(50 overs) FALCON 352/7 (A Harley 108, A Corken 84, R Blythe-Wood 41) beat MILTON 98 (J Nicolle 4/23, A Harley 3/8) by 254 runs.

PLUMTREE 169 (J Nicolle 5/39, K Ewing 4/47) lost to FALCON 176/6 (M Bryant 62*, A Corken 59) by four wickets.

FALCON 304/9d (G Strydom 52, K Ewing 46, R Swemmer 45, M Ferreira 44) lost to PETERHOUSE 308.4 by six wickets.

PETERHOUSE 156 (J Nicolle 7/38) lost to FALCON 158/2 (G Strydom 85*, R Blythe-Wood 53) by eight wickets.

(50 overs) CBC 182/6 v FALCON. Match abandoned - rain.

The St Alban's Festival

This was held from 24 to 27 February at St Alban's College in Pretoria. It is an annual invitation festival and we were delighted to be invited. For such a young and inexperienced team it was a daunting prospect - but a wonderful opportunity. There is little doubt that the experience played a major part in welding the team into a genuine first eleven unit. We have been invited back to the event in 2001, and we are grateful indeed to St Alban's for allowing us to participate in this special event.

Inter-house Cricket Winners

Senior: Founders. Junior: Hervey.

SECOND ELEVEN

The team was unbeaten, and played attacking and entertaining cricket. Above all, they thoroughly enjoyed doing so. The leading batsman was M Springer, but M Humphreys, R Stewart, P Chadzamira, D Williams and A Mureverwi all had their moments. S White was the leading bowler, supported well by S Broadbent, R Stewart, O Grobler and J Elliorr. The team was a nice blend of youth and experience, and was well led by Richie Stewart. All in all, 2000 has been a very good year for the second eleven.

THIRD ELEVEN

Rain and circumstances combined to make 2000 a very frustrating year for the third eleven, with only 1½ matches played. A large group of boys attended practices and it is sad that such enthusiasm was curtailed by lack of fixtures. Measures are afoot to amend the situation. The team performed creditably in losing to the well-organized Peterhouse side, and were in a promising position when rain washed out the CBC game. The players were: B Hindson (capt), R Manchip, R Girdler-Brown, G Maartens, P Brown, B McChesney-Martin, R Swanepoel, J van der Riet and G Veale.

UNDER-16A

One mishap apart, this has been a successful year - thanks to a good team effort rather than a couple of stars. McTaggart, Ashworth and latterly McVey were the main run-scorers while Marisa was the leading wicket-taker, supported by Badcock and Oosthuizen. Wicket-keeper Crouch and Nesbitt set the standard for some excellent fielding.

Results: Played 7, Won 5, Drawn 1, Lost 1.

Squad: D Crouch, R Ashworth, D Badcock, F Malenga, S Marisa, A McTaggart, A McVey, T Musekiwa, M Nesbitt, M Oosthuizen, P Pattison, M Quenet and L Rahman.

Zimbabwe Under-16: D Crouch (vice-captain), S Marisa, I Austen (1st XI). Matabeleland Under-16: D Crouch (capt), M Nesbitt, A McTaggart, R Ashworth, S Marisa, M Oosthuizen.

UNDER-16B

This side enjoyed convincing wins in four out of five matches played during the season. The last game against CBC was drawn when rain stopped play.

A good team spirit was maintained throughout under the captaincy of J McChesney-Martin who set an example as a good all-rounder. Mention must be made of opening batsman N Ashworth who made a total of 26o runs with a highest score of 108 against Plumtree. Valuable contributions were made on the bowling side by N Ashworth, C Cumming, C Bennett and B McCallum. The team was fortunate to have the services of G Hodges who proved to be a safe and reliable wicket-keeper.

Regular members of the team were:

N Ashworth, M du Plessis, C Cumming, M McCallum (vice-captain), J McChesney-Martin (capt), G Hodges, G Murray, J Hencil, C Bennett, C Aston and T Musekiwa.

UNDER-15A

This is a reasonably strong batting side with several good batsmen. The best scores were: Williams 113 against Peterhouse, Manchip 94 against Milton, Roberts 98 against Plumtree, Waghorn 57 against CBC. Manchip was at the top of the averages with 51.6. The bowling attack is limited but Williams and Stewart are two promising spinners. Waghorn has the potential to be a very good wicket-keeper. The fielding of this side is excellent.

Team: J Badcock (capt), R Waghorn (vice-captain), S Williams, C Manchip, A Roberts, K Mangezi, D Stewart, B Corken, S Martin, T Odendaal, R Howes, J Maritz, H Henderson, J Reid.

UNDER-15B

The Under-15B side had a good year, losing only one game in the first term to Peterhouse. Duckworth, Carbutt, Thomas and Kind could be relied on to make most of the runs. Leading wicket-takers were White, Howes, Zietsman, Malenga and Duckworth.

Team: M Stephenson, M White, D Duckworth, A Carbutt, A Reid, J Maritz, T Malenga, M Thomas, M Strydom, S Zietsman, R Howes.

UNDER-14A

Weather conditions and travel problems contrived to curtail our matches to only seven this season. The overall results were: Played 7, Won 3, Drawn 1, Lost 3.

This record is not as good as might be expected of a Falcon Under-14 team. They are a useful team, but they must learn not to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory too often! The loss against Lomagundi was fair and square and taught the team that 200 runs on Founders field is too easy a target for a competent team.

Top player of the year was R Kamberami, a leg-spinner and all-rounder. He was selected for the Zimbabwe Under-14 team. Another contender for national status would have been R Swanepoel (1999 Partridges captain), but injury for most of the season prevented him from attending the trials.

The following made the Matabeleland team: G Piers, A Holman, J de Lange, M Pattison.

The following individuals were also regular A team members: P Trethowan, E Ndabambi, G Millar, Q Graham, K Murray.

UNDER-14B

The team played a total of seven games. All were won by Falcon, except for a draw by CBC in a match abandoned because of rain. R McTaggart had a good year both as a batsman and a bowler. C Prince steadily improved his batting throughout the year. L Mashanyare, although unorthodox in style, made some valuable all-round contributions for the team. N Busuman could develop into a useful spin bowler and B Avery produced some hard-hitting performances. S Chimimba was a late find for the team in the third term and shows considerable potential to develop into a useful pace bowler.