Zimbabwe Primary School Cricket: The Partridges

The national primary schools cricket week was held in Harare from 6 to 10 December this year. We have not yet been able to obtain a report on the week, but we included this article by Mr Iain ('Poll') Campbell, former headmaster of Lilfordia School and father of Zimbabwe cricketer Alistair Campbell, on the history of the Partridges, as they were known.

The concept of combined age-group teams at levels below the traditional Nuffield (high school) sides was initially mooted by Messrs George Wells and 'Weary' Maxwell. In 1954 their original 'Fawns' XI took the field in a series of matches against local opposition. Their catchment area and sphere of operation was limited to Mashonaland in the first instance, but the pioneer squad contained many who were to become well-known cricketers in domestic circles, and one lad, Jackie du Preez, would earn international honours.

Starting as a primary schools' selection, the Fawns later moved up with this particular set of boys into the secondary school environment, and then spread to incorporate various age groups, chiefly Under-13s and Under-15s (now Under-14s and Under-16s) with regular end-of-year confrontations arranged against South African provincial teams, with Transvaal as the most regular opponents.

Thus when the authorities received an invitation to participate in the South African primary schools cricket week in the mid-sixties, it was felt that a different title had to be coined for the 'juniors', and the name 'Partridges' was settled upon. As far as one can recall the fact that the country's greatest bowler was one Joe of the same appellation had nothing to do with this choice, although there may have been a subconscious connection.

The selection of the Partridges teams was somewhat hit and miss in the early days, but a structured process finally emerged. This involved Mashonaland West, Mashonaland East, Harare, Midlands-cum-Lowveld and Matabeleland each holding zonal trials to begin with. Mashonaland West would then play against Mashonaland East and a combined eleven chosen from these two 'district' sides would then engage the might of Harare - from which the full Mashonaland twelve would emerge.

Meanwhile Matabeleland played Midlands/Lowveld and settled on their best twelve. There would then be a two-day 'Trial' staged at differing venues, after which the 'Partridges' were announced. The last of these pre-independence gatherings took place at Sir John Kennedy School (Kadoma) in 1979.

In post-independence 1980 there were obviously no further South African excursions in the offing, but a group of enthusiastic coaches conceived the idea of staging an inter-provincial 'Week' by way of compensation. This was rather hastily cobbled together but was enough of a success, despite some rather university-representative teams, to encourage a continuation of the experiment.

The only 'fly in the ointment' was the attitude of the primary school heads who declared their opposition to inter-provincial sport at junior level and thereby denied the cricket fraternity any holiday access to their facilities. Happily, in the person of Mr Mike Nash of Hartmann House, the coaches had an organiser of quite remarkable ability, and he proceeded to arrange a tournament to be staged independently; i.e., beyond the aegis of the HPSA membership. The headmaster of Prince Edward School, a cricketing man, very generously agreed to provide a venue, sponsorship was acquired from 'Rothmans' and the Week was, this time, an unqualified success.

Mr Nash was to remain Mr 'Rothmans Week' for the next seven years, his only break coming in 1986 when the tournament was convened by Mr Denis Streak in Bulawayo (presumably as a drought-breaking exercise), and there was general consternation when his transfer 'upstairs' to St George's College meant that he would no longer be able to serve in this capacity. Volunteers to shoulder the burden were not forthcoming until Mr Angus Milne, having recently resigned his headmastership of St John's Prep., expressed a willingness to step into the breach.

The way Angus 'carried' the Rothmans, and then later the 'Allen, Wack and Shepherd' Week over the next decade was quite incredible. So little support did he receive from his fellow cricket coaches in the Harare region that there were times when he was not only the honorary organising secretary, but also manager of one of the Harare teams participating, and a Partridges selector, all at one and the same time! Not content with that, there were often as many as three of his daughters scoring for various sides, whilst his lady wife, Jean, organised the 'mums' with regard to catering for the annual January matches between the Partridges and their immediate predecessors. Tragically Angus Milne was stricken with cancer, but it was typical of his devotion to duty that, although it was painfully obvious that he was palpably exhausted and had but a short time left to him, he should yet insist on running his final Week in 1995, and upon handing over his 'brief' formally at his last AGM.

Despite his example of supreme altruism there was still no Harare schoolmaster suitably inspired to volunteer his services, and so the task was undertaken by Mr Rick Pettipher, headmaster of Bryden Country School, near Chegutu, 100 miles from the venues, and he has continued to render yeoman service until the present day, which has seen CricInfo taking over the sponsorship from Allen, Wack and Shepherd as from 1999.

The Week has also undergone certain changes over the years. The selection process which had followed the previous format of choosing players on the form shown during the trial period had long been a source of concern to Mr Iain Campbell. This gentleman had been inspanned as a university student to assist Mr Wells with his Fawns and then continued his association with this organisation as a secondary school teacher until taking up a post at Lilfordia Primary School in 1968. Reinvolved in the junior school scene, he had continuously agitated for some sort of statistical background for candidates to assist the selectors in their deliberations but had been consistently overruled in this crusade by his colleagues.

However, when in 1981 he was substantively appointed as 'permanent' convenor of the panel he finally got his way, and now no player is so much as considered for Partridges selection unless he arrives at the trials with a specifically designed 'case history' sheet providing all details of his pedigree. In passing, it is worth noting, perhaps, that these sheets have now become standard requirements for age-group teams at all levels, so the chances of good players who happen to be 'out of nick' during the vital period and thereby missing out of selection have been minimised.

Whilst talking of selectors, mention should also be made of Mr Tony Brous, headmaster of Carmel School in Bulawayo, who succeeded Mr Campbell as convenor in 1993 and looks well set to equal or surpass his predecessor's long-service records, and Mr Andrew Ferreira who, unlike so many fathers of cricketing sons, has sustained his involvement long after his own progeny have departed the scene.

Another change which took place and was then undone was the expansion of the competition to give as many youngsters as possible the experience of participating in such an event. At the outset there were just six teams - provincial combinations - on parade, but a succession of sub-divisions eventually saw this number proliferate to twelve, and then fourteen. At this stage the assembled coaches realised that whilst their objective was laudable in itself the actual effect achieved was a 'watering down' of standards to a point which had become unacceptable; that is, the players were gaining little in the way of meaningful experience and thus the real object of the exercise was being negated.

The decision was therefore unanimously reached that six (only) teams - Harare North, Harare South, Mashonaland West, Easterns, Matabeleland and South-Eastern Districts - should be invited, and although a few worthy youngsters might be missing out because of this, compensation lies in the plain fact that better players are benefiting from pitting their skills against 'foemen worthy'.

Other steps in the right direction have come to pass just this year. For the first time two South African provincial sides agreed to attend, and at the conclusion of the Week were scheduled to play against Partridges A and B teams. These matches were unfortunately rained off, but the replacement of the traditional 'Partridges against the previous year's team' games by contests with 'foreigners' is patently the way to go.

Equally the realistic sponsorship offered by CricInfo is a vast improvement upon the generous but nevertheless (in these days of spiralling costs) rather inadequate inputs from previous sponsors. There will no longer, presumably, be withdrawals from the tournament by players due to financial constraints.

No story of the Partridges would be complete without paying tribute to the headmaster, staff and PTA of Prince Edward School. Some of the more significant persons involved with this annual selection have been mentioned by name; there has been a host of other unsung heroes who have played their parts, but nothing whatsoever would have been possible without the provision of all facilities by Prince Edward, and their continuing support for a tournament which is actually of no real consequence in their lives, which is vastly appreciated.