February 2004
2004 is under way and our various sports teams have been in action, at least as far as the rain has allowed. After an incredibly hot first week, a cold front arrived on the first Saturday and then the following week the rain arrived as has been with us for two weeks. As I write, we have our first clear and warm day for a long while. We are grateful for the rain, not least because the fields were in bad need of some water after problems with the pumps and irrigation systems, but obviously rain and sport don’t go together as well as they might.
The basketball 1st team has made a particularly good start to the term. They proved successful in local friendlies at Plumtree and Mzingwane and then yesterday won the inaugural CHISZ basketball trophy, which was hosted here at Falcon. There were minor hiccups with one team not arriving and St George’s stuck on the train but overall the tournament went well with some exciting basketball being played. I am no fan of the sport but even I was impressed with some of the skills. Falcon qualified for the semi-finals as runner up in their group after a narrow defeat to Plumtree but avenged that when it really counted in the final to win by over 20 points. Well done to Isaac Museba, the coach, and his team. The two Khumalos, Michael and Ayanda, looked very impressive to me as did the new boy, Mpala while Melusi Sibanda is certainly a fine prospect. The junior teams have had mixed results and some games called off due to the rain.
Despite the rain, some of the cricket teams have managed up to three matches. Remarkably the double header against St George’s and St John’s took place in Harare even if the games here had to be called off. The CBC fixtures were abandoned at both venues but we hope to find another time to play them. Sadly our 2nd, 3rd and B teams have yet to get on the field as Milton could only manage A teams the first week and it was the 1st and A teams who travelled to Harare. In fact at the time of writing, I have had more matches than practices, believe it or not!
The matches against Milton produced some good cricket. Although we won three and lost one, the three we won were all close fought affairs and it has to be said we were thumped in the one we lost. That was our U14 A side who are a rather weak group this year, with no national junior players and barely a provincial player. Will Randle says they are keen and the later performances against powerful St George’s and St John’s side show that they won’t go down without a fight. Dirk van Heerden with his left arm seam, all rounder Gareth Bint and batsman Terence Otterson look as though they could turn into more than competent cricketers. We trust so!
Paul Trethowan had the best figures at first team level with 3-29 against Milton. Chasing a low total, Gary Manchip, 41, and Alistair Roberts, 30, were the main contributors in a 3 wicket victory. On a poor pitch the 16As struggled to 80 but captain, Daniel Landman, led the fight back with 4-13 to bowl Milton out for 51. Terence Connor picked up 5 wickets for the 15A team and then Jack Randle and Tineyi Kureva top scored as they scraped to a 1 wicket victory which was encouraging having lost on both occasions to that side last year.
Up in Harare the first team pulled off a very satisfying 4 wicket victory against St George’s. Martyn Oosthuizen took 4 wickets and Gary Manchip saw us to victory with 54*. Sadly the batting let us down against St John’s, despite some rearguard action by Jason Maritz and Devon Stewart. Tight bowling, Oosthuizen to the fore again, nearly earned us a draw but a 6 wicket defeat was the eventual result. The 16 A side also won well at St George’s. Batting first they totalled 200 with Daniel Landman making 115. The bowling honours were shared but it was Daniel Coulson who took the final wicket with just one further over to spare. Coulson again and Jason Paterson bowled well against St John’s but poor batting saw us come a distant second.
The U14 and U15 teams lost both matches but, to be honest, we didn’t expect otherwise and we were encouraged that there was some fight shown and some promise of better to come. Tapiwa Zindoga, who disappointed with his bowling last year, picked up 3 wickets in both matches for the 15As and could turn into a genuine all rounder. Randle, Connor and Kureva featured again with either runs or wickets and Craig Shaw apparently pulled off an outstanding catch at Saints. For the 14 As, van Heerden’s 3-19 at St George’s was a fine spell. Bint showed some guts with his batting and Raz Dube has the makings of a top off spinner.
Tennis has lost out on some matches due to the rain and a couple of teams have failed to pitch up. Results have not come through to me though I do know we drew with Girls’ College at 1st team level in the first week of term. It is probably not the greatest team we have ever put out but there are quite a number of young players such as Kuraone Mabeza, still in Form 4, who will make the core of a good side in a year or two.
I don’t have a lot of news regarding waterpolo. After a good start to the season in which we beat CBC we seem to be getting progressively worse according to coach Chris Davison. So perhaps less said the better! The juniors were short on numbers and short on experience. Numbers do seem to have perked up but experience can only be gained in the pool and doubtless we shall see some progress there.
Some of our swimmers have taken part in Matabeleland galas. Craig Wale has been particularly successful. There appears to be a healthy interest in swimming which is encouraging
It is cross country time once again. Last week we held the relay course. Oates and Chubb were clear winners in the junior and senior events respectively with their runners Tom Randell and Michael Khumalo, the cross country captain, the fastest individuals. Overall Oates won from Hervey. In the school course Hervey won both the senior and junior events but the individual winners were both from Chubb. Michael Khumalo continued his good firm winning from Keith Wale and Sean Taggart, both of Oates, whilst Keegan Corken took the junior section, also from two Oates runners in Matthew Sanderson and Tom Randell.
Sports update - 27 February 2004
Having been without a phone line now for over a month and having given up hope of the Tel One engineers doing anything about for the foreseeable future it is now time for another sports report. I apologise that the February 1 report is also only just appearing but hopefully they will both be of interest and together they take us to the end of the cricket/basketball/tennis/waterpolo season before we enter the time of athletics.
The cricket must probably take the headlines with the fixture against St Benedict’s College from Johannesburg. South Africa, the first touring team we have hosted for three years. It was very good to have them; they were a good group and we hope they will pave the way for more South African teams to come up this way. The instigator of the tour was Andy ‘Bundu’ Waller, a Falcon Old Boy who left in 1977 and made his name as captain of the Zimbabwe cricket team prior to Test status and who subsequently was given 2 Test caps. St Benedict’s brought up teams to play at 1st, U16 and U15 level which was an added bonus. The 1sts won a reasonably tightly fought match by 24 runs. We were always a nose in front but there were times when the wheels could have fallen off! Gary Manchip, who has been in good form this term, compiled another half century and the wickets were shared amongst all bowlers. The U16 A side had a convincing 10 wicket victory with Daniel Landman and Drew Deary each picking up 4 wickets as St Benedict’s were dismissed for 66. Jason Paterson and Jason Graham saw us to the required total without the loss of a wicket. The U15 As were also successful with a 111 run win. Jack Randle was top scorer with 38 whilst Tom Randell and Craig Shaw put on an unbroken stand of 50 for the 10th wicket, a record against any school at U15 level. Shaw completed a good day by taking 3 wickets with his leg spin. The 14 As also had a good victory. They were up against Bulawayo Development whom they defeated by 9 wickets, Dirk Zietsman picking up 4-12, Brett Gait and Gareth Brown scoring the runs.
B sides played at Plumtree with 2nds and U16 B winning but U15 and U14 sides coming second. Hamish Henderson scored a rapid 68*, Richards, Holman, Zembe notable wicket takers.
It must be admitted that the previous week in matches against Peterhouse we were not so successful. The first team played a two day match and ended up losing by 7 wickets after a weak 1st innings batting show and allowing the Headmaster’s son, Glenn Querl, to score a century. More fight was shown in the second innings but it was too little too late and we weren’t quite able to force a draw at least. In fact the U16 A side was the only team to record a victory. Bowling out Peterhouse for 97, Paterson and Deary taking 3 wickets each, they reached the target for 5 wickets down. Terence Connor scored 50 for the U15 A side but there was not a lot to write home about it has to be said.
Waterpolo has been active with two trips to Mashonaland. Firstly they went to Peterhouse, taking 3 senior sides, beating Peterhouse convincingly and only narrowly losing 5-6 to St John’s at 1st team level. Then the following weekend it was the Grant Tilley Tournament at St John’s. The format of the tournament was tough for us as we had to win our first match to progress. A hard fought match against St George’s saw us lose 2-4 and so go into the plate section which we won without much problem to be ranked 5th overall. Ben Grobler, Grant Simpson and Greg Gavazzi had been on tour with the Zim U16 team. I do not know if they were available for the Tournament. The juniors have continued with fixtures each Thursday against CBC, Plumtree and Girls’ College, winning some and losing others. Alistair Gibson is doing a good job as coach/manager of the group in the absence of waterpolo qualified staff for this age-group.
The 1st basketball team has been involved in Zonal matches and regional selection. Off the top of my head, Michael Khumalo (as captain), Ayanda Khumalo, Melusi Sibanda and Mpala have all been chosen for Matabeleland. I apologise to anyone I have forgotten.
Tennis too has had boys selected for Matabeleland at the Zim Schools trials. They are Adrian Carbutt, Ross Waghorn and Keith Murray. Well done to all.
Squash had a rare chance to play Harare opposition on a recent sortie to the capital. It was a good effort to beat St George’s and no disgrace to go down to Prince Edward who are probably the strongest in the country.
Finally I must record Falcon’s success in our Invitation Cross Country event. This year only CBC and Petra managed to make it out here. Although we saw a CBC boy win both the senior and junior races, as a team event, Falcon was a clear winner. Gareth Bint ran a particularly good race to finish third in the junior section as an U14 boy.
Richard Harrison
27th February 2004