1 December 2023
Kearsney College, in Botha’s Hill, hosts preseason cricket in early January, with four schools from KZN, two from Zimbabwe, and one each from Mpumalanga and Gauteng, participating in the iHlobo Cricket Festival.
Previously, the event had been hosted at various venues around South Africa, but in recent years Cape schools withdrew due to rising travel costs. The result was Kearsney and Michaelhouse taking over as co-hosts.
At the start of 2023, Michaelhouse hosted the event. Since then, however, it has been decided that Kearsney College will become the permanent home of the annual festival.
Local schools joining Kearsney include Clifton College, Michaelhouse and DHS. St Alban’s College makes the journey from Pretoria, while Uplands College takes the long road from White River. Two of Zimbabwe’s best, St John’s College (Harare) and Falcon College (Bulawayo), cross the border to test their skills.
Kearsney will host all the matches, with the action starting on Monday, 8 January, and finishing on Thursday, 11 January.
The format for the festival is declaration cricket on day one, followed by 50 overs on day two. All schools will play two T20s on the third day, with the event wrapping up with a single T20 on the last day.
FIXTURES
Monday, 8 January (Declaration)
Kearsney vs St John’s, Matterson
Clifton vs St Alban’s, Osler
DHS vs Michaelhouse, AH Smith
Uplands vs Falcon, Silcock
Tuesday, 9 January (50-over)
Kearsney vs St Alban’s, AH Smith
Clifton vs Uplands, Matterson
St John’s vs Michaelhouse, Silcock
DHS vs Falcon, Osler
Wednesday, 10 January (T20)
Clifton vs Falcon, AH Smith
Kearsney vs Michaelhouse, Matterson
St John’s vs Uplands, Osler
DHS vs St Alban’s, Silcock
Wednesday, 10 January (T20)
St John’s vs St Alban’s, AH Smith
DHS vs Uplands, Matterson
Kearsney vs Falcon, Osler
Clifton vs Michaelhouse, Silcock
Thursday, 11 January (T20)
Kearsney vs Clifton, AH Smith
Falcon vs Michaelhouse, Matterson
St Alban’s vs Uplands, Osler
DHS vs St John’s, Silcock
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