The Pearson High School is set to get their 15th annual cricket festival underway from Thursday to Sunday. This popular event will see a record 25 teams compete in 51 matches over 4 days which makes this the biggest cricket festival of its kind in the Eastern Cape. The 2023 edition will once again see most of the top-playing cricketing schools in the province in action. In addition to the Eastern Cape schools from around the metro and country district areas, Hudson Park and Stirling from Border and traditional cricket powerhouse Queens College from Queenstown are once again in action. The exciting Potchefstroom Gymnasium from North West will once again be a force to be reckoned with.
Rondebosch’s First XI is currently the Number 1 ranked cricket school in the country according to the national SA Schoolsports Cricket rankings, will be sending a strong Colts side with a number of talented future 1st XI cricketers and will no doubt add great value to the festival. Boland Landbou, one of the top Boland schools as well as York High School from George will also attend for the first time. Parel Vallei from Somerset West will also take part for the second time.
Teams will play in two T20 matches on Thursday, a time format match on Friday which will allow teams to bat twice, and 50 over matches on Saturday and Sunday.
Mouth-watering encounters are set to take place over the four days. Matches to look out for are Muir vs Queens, Pearson vs Potchefstroom Gymnasium, Daniel Pienaar vs Hudson Park Queens, Grey vs Parel Vallei and Woodridge vs Rondebosch in the Time Format matches on Friday. Grey vs Potchefstroom Gym, Boland Landbou vs Graeme and Woodridge vs Queens on Saturday’s 50 over matches while Pearson take on Queens and Woodridge vs Potchefstroom on the final day.
The festival provides teams the opportunity to experiment with young talent as most of the grade 12 learners will be out of action due to their trial examinations.
Mr Haldane Pienaar, Acting-Principal of Pearson High School, said the school is excited to host this prestigious festival for the 15th year. “I am looking forward to competitive cricket over the 4 days. The festival is a fantastic opportunity for our top cricketing schools to get onto the field and start the new season in fine style. We appreciate the support of our visiting teams and the support of our local school for making their facilities available for the festival. Most importantly, we hope the boys will have fun and build new friendships.”
