Peterhouse Cricket Report, 2000

The year 2000 was a very good one for Peterhouse on the cricket front. The school produced three open sides (44 would regularly come out to practice), two U16 and U15 sides and three U14 sides. The school has again been fortunate this term to have competent coaches and outstanding facilities, combined with natural skill and talent, always to make them a force to be reckoned with on the cricket field. The groundsman Tony Wilde and his workers must be commended for the excellent wickets they have produced throughout the year. The addition of the astroturf nets will make a huge difference to training sessions, especially in the first term with all the wet weather.

In the first term practices and matches were again greatly effected by the weather. However the first team still managed to play five games - a lot more than some of our junior B sides. Cricket did take on an extra dimension at Peterhouse this year with the introduction of the school's own Squads of Excellence on a Friday afternoon which involved the top three or four cricketers from each age group. This was a great success and I would like to thank Terry Coughlan for his time and commitment in this regard - I believe this will benefit our top cricketers greatly. I would also like to thank Pete Robinson and Fiona Butchart from the ZCU who ran a very worthwhile umpiring and scoring course for staff and boys.

Peterhouse 1st XI 2000

The first game of the season was against a very competitive Prince Edward side. Peterhouse batted first and scored 251-9 declared. The visitors replied in a very aggressive manner and looked set to tackle the target with a fantastic 133 from opener and captain Ryan Butterworth but after his dismissal, PE very surprisingly closed up shop and the game ended in a most disappointing draw scoring 216 - 5. Peterhouse dominated the next encounter against Lomagundi who were bowled out for 171 (Bedford 5 - 67) and passed the score with only five wickets down. The side then travelled to St John's and batted first and declared with the score at 243 - 7 (Linnel 59). The home side never seemed to be in the game and were eventually all out on the second last ball of the game for 123 (MacMillan 4 -27). The first XI got as far as Gweru for the traditional double-header against Falcon before being turned back because of the weather (on entering the school gates after a ten-hour trip, a comment came from the back - "Sir, how about Beit Bridge for lunch next week?").

After a horrific week of weather it was a great surprise we played our last two games. The team looked out of shape and played a disappointing two days of cricket. The highlight of the St George's game was a very good captain's knock of 42* on a difficult wicket. A score of 108 was enough and Peterhouse won by 23 runs. The last game of the term was against a very spirited Hillcrest team. Peterhouse batted first and the captain made a very sporting declaration at 12 15 with the score at 210-6 (Bedford 55*). Hillcrest boldly hung on for a draw with the score at 166-9.

The PE cricket festival started the new season and the 1st XI had good victories against CBC, Eaglesvale and Churchill. Special mention must be made of Jackson and Kitcat who faired very well even though they were U16s. Five boys went on to play for MCD and they were Barber (captain), Bedford, Durham S, Durham A and Mamvoto (MacMillan was away with Zimbabwe A in Kenya). The first school match was against a very good St. John's side, Peterhouse batted first and scored 285-7 (Barber 87) and St. John's were bowled out for 156 (Mackie 5-4). On the Sunday Hillcrest were the visitors and although played well could not compete with the massive 315-9 scored in 50 overs by the home side. St. George's were totally outplayed in the next encounter with MacMillan causing damage with both bat and ball (72 and 4-36).

As always the main fixture of the term was to be a double header against Falcon. In the declaration game on Saturday Falcon scored a huge 304-9 declared. This gave Peterhouse the afternoon to try to take on this total (about 60 overs). Unbelievably Peterhouse passed the score with only 4 wickets down in the 42nd over with major contributions from MacMillan 87, Durham A 68* and Barber 62*. But Falcon had their revenge on the Sunday with even a spirited 67* by Durham A not enough to stop an eight-wicket defeat. This game was followed by the PE encounter which Peterhouse amassed 271-9 with Cloete top-scoring with 105. Peterhouse ended up winning by 75 runs. The last game of the season was always going to be close one against Lomagundi. Unfortunately the weather greatly affected the game which only started at 11:00 am. However it was a good contest which Lomagundi won by 16 runs.

The 1st XI had an outstanding season and although it lost two matches (to teams it had previously beaten) there are not many people who would argue that it was the best school team in the country. Things are looking very exciting for Peterhouse cricket over the next few years.

1st XI from: Barber.H (captain), Bedford.K, Cloete.D, Durham.A (Zim.U19), Durham.S, Davy.J, Freeland.G, Linnell.R, Mackie.R, MacMillan.C (Zim.U19), Mamvoto.A, Mellon.D, Venables.N. Scorer: Changa