CRICKET
The mid-week T20 cricket fixture between Kearsney College and DHS was won by Kearsney. The weekend’s 50-over game, however, was called off due to rain.
Kearsney 1st XI 127/9 in 20 overs
DHS 1st XI 71//10
Kearsney won by 56 Runs
BASKETBALL
Kearsney 1st team beat DHS 1st team 33-30
Kearsney hosted Durban High School for the term’s opening interschool fixture over the weekend. Kearsney has had a spate of injuries to its guards and had to call on a number of younger players.
The hosts started well but missed several easy baskets. Their defense, however, caused DHS a great deal of difficulty, forcing them into poor shot selections. Kearsney finished the quarter leading 12-6 but were more dominant than the scoreboard suggested.
Both teams shot poorly in the second quarter, only scoring one basket each, and went into half-time with Kearsney leading 15-8.
DHS fought back in the third quarter, to close the gap 20-22 which set up a tense final quarter.
Despite a valiant effort Kearsney was able to secure enough possession and score a few crunch baskets, securing a 33-30 win.
Unfortunately for Kearsney, the victory came at the cost of stalwart Ayanda Jackson who sprained his ankle and will be out for two weeks, taking the team’s ankle injury toll to four.
Top Performers
Kearsney: Oliver Brazier 7 points, Andile Nomvete 7; Gregor Campbel 6
DHS: Sethu Ngobe 13 points
BASKETBALL STAYERS’ TOURNAMENT
Kearsney recently hosted the 9th edition of the Independent Schools Stayers Basketball Tournament, in which 44 teams participated, travelling from afar afield as Swaziland and Mozambique this year.
The A division was keenly contested with teams split into four pools, the top four moving forward to a round of 16 and then the winners and losers moving on to contest for place 1-16. The Kearsney team lost in their playoff game 43-44 to Michaelmount from Johannesburg; going on to finish 9th.
St Charles and St Benedict’s from Johannesburg contested the finals, with St Charles dominating their opponents and winning the tournament for the first time 55-32. Storm Gilchrist from St Charles was the stand out player of the tournament, dominating defense and offence. Any school which wants to beat St Charles will have to find a way to deal with this over 2m tall player who has become a dominant force in schoolboy basketball.
The B division was played on the outdoor courts and, despite some poor weather, the games were all played. This division comprised smaller independent schools’ first teams as well as some of the bigger schools’ best players of all age groups who did not make their school’s first team. The Kearsney Invitation and Michaelmount 2nd team contested the finals, a tight affair with the Kearsney team going down 28-38.
The primary school’s division has grown, showing the interest in the game amongst younger children. The games were played on the Kearsney outdoor courts as well as at Highbury. Michaelmount, the tournament favourites, were upset by eventual winners St Johns College Prep 43-21. They went on to beat Highbury Prep 36-28 in the finals.
Final positions:
Division 1 – 1 St Charles, 2 St Benedict’s, 3 St David’s Marist, 4 St Stithians, 5 Michaelhouse, 6 St Alban’s, 7 Michaelmount, 8 St John’s, 9 Kearsney, 10 Clifton, 11 Kingswood, 12 Peaceplayers, 13 St Peter’s, 14 Hilton, 15 Waterford, 16 Saheti, 17 Trichardt, 18 Cast, 19 Heritage, 20 Usutu Forest
Division 2 – 1 Michaelmount, 2 Kearsney, 3 Michaelhouse, 4 St Benedict’s, 5 Curro, 6 Enjabulweni, 7 St David’s Marist, 8 Kingswood, 9 St Nicholas, 10 St John’s, 11 St Benedict’s
Division 3 – 1 St John’s Prep, 2 Highbury, 3 Trichardt, 4 Peaceplayers International, 5 Michaelmount, 6 Saheti, 7 Pelham, 8 The Ridge, 9 St Peter’s Prep, 10 Enjabulweni, 11 St Stithians, 12 Highbury Invitational.
The second tournament hosted by Kearsney was the inaugural Kearsney Invitation Tournament which showcased government schools with a history of good basketball programmes. The games were hotly contested with much athleticism shown. As host, Kearsney was the only independent school to participate.
KES, Pretoria Boys’ and Maritzburg College were in a league of their own and easily advanced to the semi-final. Kearsney battled Northwood to make fourth spot in the semi-finals, coming up short 35-40 despite a spirited fightback.
KES VII and College contested an epic final which was played in a great spirit, showcasing the best of schoolboy sport. College managed to win the finals and were deserving tournament champions piping KES 53-45.
Final positions:
1 Maritzburg College, 2 KES, 3 Northwood, 4 Pretoria Boys, 5 DHS, 6 Kearsney, 7 Westville, 8 Grey High, 9
Westerford, 10 Jeppe
WATER POLO
Kearsney College’s water polo teams participated in the annual Top 10 KZN Water Polo championships over the weekend, competing in three age groups: U14, U15 and 1st team.
Kearsney won gold in the U14 section, winning the final 8-2 against Michaelhouse in a tournament they dominated from start to finish. The 1st team placed 5th after a narrow 12-11 loss to Westville in the quarter-finals.
Golf
Kearsney College’s Julian Daws has been selected to the SA Schools Golf team. He captained the KZN A team, which won the SA Schools team event. His fellow Kearsney students Matthew Gouws and Reece Brown were also members of the KZN team.
Image: Julian Daws
Match Report Compiled by Sue Miles at Working Words.
1st image:
Kearsney College’s U14 water polo team won the Top Ten Tournament at the weekend. Players are, back row from left, Thomas Aylward, Oliver Ludwig, Paul Samouilhan, Benjamin Schneemann, Levi Thom; front row Tristan Louw, Murray McHugh, Christian Mendes De Oliveira, James Beningfield, Kaylin Moodley, Rourke Stacey, Luca Giai-Minietti. Absent Thomas Francke
2nd Image: Andile Nomvete
