SPORTS REPORT: 23 FEBRUARY 2006
Half term has been reached and with the end (more or less) of the tennis, cricket, basketball, water polo seasons. The athletics track on Main Field is being cut and prepared and we look forward to a successful season running, jumping and so on. But first let me try to bring you up to date on how the other sports have fared up to this point.
Basketball
I am not at all convinced that I have all the basketball results to hand but I shall do my best. For the most part I think that the teams, both junior and senior have done pretty well, certainly with more wins than losses though I think we fared badly in some early games against CBC but have improved since then and some teams any way have reversed the defeat which is to their credit.
One thing that was good was that we were able to send the 1st and U16 teams up for two days of competition in Mashonaland. Peterhouse proved too strong for both teams though I believe there was an element of controversy in the 1st team game. However, victories against Prince Edward were a notable achievement. More recently we went down to Plumtree and beat them convincingly, 48-16. It is also good to report that Isaac Museba intends to take the 1st team down to a tournament in Durban at the end of term which will be the first time our basketball players have been on tour and we wish them every success in that venture.
Finally, here are the positions for the junior basketball inter house competition :
1. Tredgold 2. Hervey 3. Chubb 4. Founders 5. Oates 6. George Grey
Cricket
R
ain has featured quite largely in our cricket this term. We shouldn’t complain I suppose but we do. It must be said, however, that we have had a remarkable amount of cricket given the rain that has been around and no game was called off without a ball being bowled though many have had to be abandoned. Pitches have been slow and outfields lush so runs have been hard to come by and all the more credit to those have made big scores.We had an enjoyable double header up in Harare against St George’s and St John’s. Results were mixed but the 1st XI pulled off a very exciting and well-deserved victory against St John’s at Harare Sports Club and the U16 A side did well to beat St George’s at the fourth time of asking. The Peterhouse weekend is always a big one and although it was affected a little by the rain good cricket was played by both schools in most of the matches and it is always satisfying to do well against CBC as we did recently, particularly at 1st and U16 A level.
The U14 A side appeared desperately weak in the first few weeks but Will Randle has begun to get them into shape and their recent results have been much more promising with some good personal achievements. That is a good effort.
I am not going to list all the results but below you can find some of the more outstanding personal performances from the matches we have played :
vs Milton
U15 A : G Mamhiyo 5-16
U16 A : P Trethowan 59
vs St George’s
U16 A : D van Heerden 50
vs St John’s
U14 A : J Chitate 5-19
U16 A : T Mupariwa 3 catches and 2 stumpings
vs CBC
U15 A : T Enwerem 62, C van Rensburg 6-19
U16 B : M Ward 85, K Chiwanza 83
1st XI : C Ncube 4 catches and 1 stumping
vs Peterhouse
U
14 A : Pongweni 65U15 A : van Rensburg 6-38 and 71
U16 A : D van Heerden 7-25, K Chiwanza 58
1st XI : G Aliseni 5-25, C Ncube 50
vs CBC
U14 A : R Gilmour 5-34
U15 A : C van Rensburg 107, T Enwerem 54
U16 A : W Bandura 106*, T Mupariwa 55, D Zietsman 6-27
2nd XI : R Fenner 74*, G Bradnick 5-27
1st XI : J Paterson 112*, D Landman 83*
vs Gifford
U14 A : T Pongweni 63, R Gilmour 58, J Goddard 5-15
A footnote to this section is that Daleroy Sibanda of the U15 A side
took a wicket with the first ball that he bowled this year to add to the
wicket with the first ball that he bowled as an U14 A player. That I
think is unique at Falcon.
Finally, I should make mention of the inaugural Falcon College Junior
Cricket Festival which was held here on 17-18 February. The weather was
kind to us and 8 junior schools from all over the country competed with
the final going down to the last ball of the last over, Ruzawi just
pipping St John’s. It was a very successful weekend well supported by
parents from the different schools and some exciting cricket played.
Cross Country
We had a very successful Inter Schools Invitation Cross Country with a record number of visiting schools (4 but should have been 5). We came second to Mzingwane but it was a good event I think. In our Inter House races, Keith Wale (Oates), the cross country captain managed to be the fastest senior in both the relay and the school courses which is something that isn’t often achieved. Sadly, I don’t have the full results to hand and my memory fails me. At the risk of embarrassing myself, I will hazard the guess at Hervey winning the Relay course and George Grey the School course.
Swimming
I can’t tell you much about what swimming has been going on except to say that Keith Wale, Dirk Zietsman, Seamus McGovern, Graham and Keith Riley are competing in the Nationals this weekend in Bulawayo.
Tennis
I am definitely missing tennis results and can really only report that Dirk Pritchard, our tennis captain, was selected for the Matabeleland U18 B side, Asaph Nyathi for the U16 A side and M Mhanga and Corey van Rensburg for the U16 B side. They are both in action this weekend at the Inter Provincial and National Trials in Harare this weekend.
Water polo
Water polo has been pretty busy as usual with tournaments each Saturday. Locally our teams have generally done well against CBC, Girls’ College and Convent though the U16 side still has to beat CBC. There have been three Inter Zonal tournaments. In the Collins Cup our U16 side came 4th out of 7. The 1st team Arthur Gower Memorial Trophy was held at Falcon and it has to be said that we largely under-performed but in the more recent Grant Tilley Tournament at St John’s we were much improved and came 3rd which was much more satisfactory.
Richard Harrison
23 February 2006