Once again the first term was badly hit by wet weather and the First XI managed to play only four games. These included two nail-biting draws against Lomagundi and Watershed where the College needed one and two wickets respectively for victory, a heavy defeat at the hands of Peterhouse and a convincing win over Prince Edward.

Either side of these games there were two successful tours to South Africa, one to Cape Town in December 1999 and the other to Pretoria in February 2000. Unfortunately the end of 1999 saw the departure of our three most talented Form 4 cricketers - Scott Brant and Peter Millett to Australia, while Andrew Stone joined the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy.

This meant that the XI of 2000 consisted entirely of Form Fours and Upper Sixths, and it was obvious in the first term that the team missed the talents of the three players who had moved on.

However, the cricket played in the August/September holidays and third term indicated that the team rallied together to produce some outstanding performances and the third term record of played 9, won 8, lost 1, rivals the records of the College elevens of 1993 and 1996! This successful run was largely owing to the incredible amount of hard work put in by the team as a whole as well as the positive and astute captaining of Gavin Thorn in the August holidays and Stephen Wright in the third term.

The batting developed a more solid look about it as the season wore on, particularly when the two senior ‘pros’, Barney Rogers and Gavin Thorn, began consistently to demonstrate their talents and score heavily, so much so that the coach (although delighted!) was left rather bewildered as to why this had not happened a year before. In particular Gavin Thorn ended his school cricketing career with scores of 115 not out, 102 and 72. Barney Rogers demonstrated why he was the top batsman for the Zimbabwe Development Team at the Africa Cup played in Kenya in September, though he would be concerned at losing his wicket too often just after he reached the half-century mark. Captain Stephen Wright had his moment of glory in his last school match in scoring 61 off 45 balls to help secure a victory against St George’s. Of the younger players Michael Brundle at number three played several substantial innings which showed what a talented player he is, while Richard Caldecott displayed admirable powers of concentration and proved to be a most effective opening batsman. Much will be expected of these two in the next two years, as well as of Stuart Carrihill, who though he had less opportunities to show his talents was nevertheless a good man in a crisis, showing a markedly unflappable temperament.

In the bowling departments, the College team had an abundance of quality performers. Waddington Mwayenga and Andy Hough were a formidable opening pair and were well backed up in the seam department by Matthew Steel, Michael Brundle and Stephen Cardoso. The spin department was equally impressive with Barney Rogers, Simon Seager (off-spin), Stephen Wright and Stuart Carrihill (leg-spin) all having played for national age-group sides. All of these bowlers at one time or another finished with at least one impressive haul of wickets.

The bowling was backed by some outstanding fielding, particularly from Gareth Palmer (an outstanding left-arm cover point) and Richard Caldecott behind the stumps. Caldecott in particular had a most impressive first year in the team and his haul of four stumpings (three off the medium pace of Michael Brundle) and one catch against Churchill was keeping of the highest quality.

Congratulations go to Waddington Mwayenga, Michael Brundle, Richard Caldecott and Stuart Carrihill who played for Mashonaland Under-19 under the captaincy of Gavin Thorn. At this time Stephen Wright and Barney Rogers were playing for the Zimbabwe Development Team in the Africa Cup. Wright, Thorn and Rogers were all selected for the Zimbabwe Under-19 team, as was former team mate Andrew Stone. Interesting too, was the news that Scott Brant and Peter Millett were picked to play for the Queensland Under-19 Squad and Western Australian Private Schools’ teams respectively, an indication of how strong the calibre of cricketers is at the College.

Team S Wright (Captain), G Thorn (Vice-Captain), M Brundle, R Caldecott, S Cardoso, S Carrihill, A Hough, W Mwayenga, G Palmer, B Rogers, S Seager, M Steel.

RESULTS

FIRST TERM

versus Lomagundi - SJC 212-6 ( R. Caldecott 61, M. Brundle 42, S. Wright 22, S. Carrihill 22 ) Lomagundi 117-9 ( A. Hough 9- 3- 12- 3, S. Cardoso 12- 4- 36- 2, S. Wright 12- 4- 36- 2 ) Match Drawn

versus Watershed - SJC 178 ( R. Caldecott 59, S. Carrihill 32, S. Wright 29 ) Watershed 176-8 (W. Mwayenga 16- 4- 32- 5 ) Match Drawn

versus Peterhouse - Peterhouse 243-7 ( S. Cardoso 11- 2- 51-2, S.Wright 11- 2- 51- 2 ) SJC 123 ( M. Brundle 20 ) SJC lost by 120 runs

versus Prince Edward- P E 137 ( W. Mwayenga 16- 3- 27- 3, A. Hough 9- 2- 22- 2, S. Cardoso 11- 2- 34- 2, S. Wright 11- 4- 34- 2 ) SJC 138-2 ( B. Rogers 40, M. Brundle 21n.o. ) SJC won by 8 wickets

versus St Andrews ( Grahamstown ) STA 207-9 ( W. Mwayenga 10- 0- 21- 3, S. Seager 10- 0- 37-2, S. Cardoso 10- 0- 37-2 ) SJC 38-1 ( B. Rogers 18n.o. ) Match rained off

versus Woodridge ( Port Elizabeth ) Woodridge 142 ( M. Brundle 10- 2- 27-3, M. Steel 8- 4- 11- 2, W. Mwayenga 9- 3- 24- 2, S. Wright 10- 1- 46- 2 ) SJC 146-8 ( S. Carrihill 43n.o., S. Wright 27, M. Steel 20n.o., B. Rogers 20 ) SJC won by 2 wickets

versus Kearsney ( Natal ) Kearsney 196-9 ( S. Seager 10- 2- 28-4, W. Mwayenga 8- 2- 19-2 ) SJC 91 ( B. Rogers 19 ) SJC lost by 105 runs

SEPTEMBER HOLIDAYS

versus Midlands Christian College SJC 256-4 ( M. Brundle 97, B. Taylor 62, M. Steel 26 ) MCC 137 ( S.Carrihill 6- 1- 13- 4, M. Brundle 10- 1- 21-2, M. Steel 7- 1- 22- 2 ) SJC won by 119 runs

versus Watershed Watershed 159-9 ( W. Mwayenga 10- 2- 27- 3, M. Steel 7- 0- 28- 2 ) SJC 161-5 ( G. Thorn 79 n.o.) SJC won by 5 wickets

versus Hillcrest Hillcrest 157-7 ( M. Brundle 10- 4- 18- 3, S. Cardoso 10- 2- 32-2 ) SJC 158-8 ( M. Brundle 68 ) SJC won by 2 wickets

versus Falcon SJC 207-7 ( R. Caldecott 50, M. Brundle 34 ) Falcon 172 ( M. Steel 6- 0- 30- 3, M. Brundle 10- 0- 29-2, W. Mwayenga 9- 0- 39- 2 ) SJC won by 14 runs

THIRD TERM

versus Peterhouse Peterhouse 285-7 ( S. Wright 10- 0- 44- 3, M. Steel 5- 0- 34- 2 ) SJC 156 ( B. Rogers 65 ) SJC lost by 129 runs

versus Lomagundi SJC 209-9 ( M. Brundle 70, B. Rogers 50, S. Wright 23, R. Caldecott 21 ) Lomagundi 163 ( M. Brundle 10- 1- 35- 4, M. Steel 7- 0- 28- 2 ) SJC won by 46 runs

versus Churchill Churchill 212 ( M. Brundle 7- 0- 38-5, W. Mwayenga 9- 1- 40- 2 ) SJC 214-2 ( G. Thorn 115n.o. B. Rogers 35n.o, M. Brundle 32 ) SJC won by 8 wickets

versus Prince Edward SJC 241-8 ( G.Thorn 102, B. Rogers 56, R. Caldecott 28 ) P E 101 ( A. Hough 10- 4- 35- 5, M. Brundle 3- 0- 5- 2, W. Mwayenga 10- 2- 21-2 ) SJC won by 140 runs

versus St. Georges STG 185 (W. Mwayenga 8- 2- 31- 3, S. Cardoso 9- 1- 37-3, S. Wright 10- 0- 49- 2 ) SJC 187-5 ( G.Thorn 72n.o S.Wright 61 ) SJC won by 5 wickets

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