Once again Peter Whalley of St John's has provided all our content, and we wish to thank him for his fine contributions and encourage other schools to send us material for publication.

ST JOHN'S COLLEGE, HARARE - by Peter Whalley

ST. JOHNS VERSUS WATERSHED, 22 JANUARY FIRST X1 MATCH

The very wet weather in Harare let up enough for the game to be played but the wicket once again looked to be full of promise for the bowlers. Hence St. Johns were disappointed for the second week in a row to lose the toss and find themselves put in to bat. In fact the wicket dried out very quickly and though the Watershed bowlers bowled a good line they were not able to exploit the early conditions. However the St. Johns batsmen tended to contribute to their own downfall with poor shot selection. Once again Richard Caldecott showed the way and notched up his second half-century in succession. He had good support from Captain Stephen Wright and at 102-2 St. Johns looked to be heading for a good total but the batsmen frittered away this good position and the last 8 wickets fell for only 76 more runs with only Stuart Carrihill showing the necessary application required at this level. Pick of the Watershed bowlers was promising off-spinner Andrew Mcguire while opening bowler Macay had a good second spell to bag a five-wicket haul.

The Watershed reply began well with Andrew Mcguire and Trow putting together an opening partnership of 76 and when Mcguire departed for a well-played 59 the good work was continued by skipper Andre Van Heerden and with 13 overs to go Watershed required 61 runs for victory with 9 wickets in hand. It seemed an easy proposition but Waddington Mwayenga, a Zimbabwe Under-16 opening bowler and now a pupil at St. Johns, courtesy of a Z.C.U. scholarship, came back for his second spell and was able to dismiss both Van Heerden and the patient Trow and suddenly the tone of the game began to change dramatically. Fine bowling from Mwayenga and 2 run outs meant that the game went to the wire. Watershed were handicapped by the fact that Paul Grobbler had injured his finger while fielding and would only be able to bat in an emergency. The final over started with Watershed needing 8 runs and St. Johns 2 wickets but neither side was able to secure victory, so for the second week in a row St. Johns were involved in a nail-biting draw. Who said that declaration cricket only produces dull draws?

SCORES

ST. JOHNS 178 (R. Caldecott 59, S. Carrihill 32 , S. Wright 29; Macay 15-4-24-5, A. McGuire 16-3-47-3, P. Grobler 5-0-25-2). WATERSHED 176/8 (A. McGuire 59, Trow 43, A. van Heerden 23 W. Mwayenga 16-4-32-5). Match drawn.

OTHER SCORES

SECOND X1

WATERSHED 84 (A. Steel 4/7, R. Devlin 4/27). ST. JOHNS 85/2 (R. Travers 44*.) St Johns won by eight wickets.

UNDER 16 A

ST. JOHNS 269/2 (B. Taylor 132*, D. Bradshaw 56, B. Fisher 31*; A. Pretorius 9-0-44-2). WATERSHED 49 (V. Khosla 2-0-3-3, M. Long 4-1-9-2, M. Fynn 6-0-17-2). St Johns won by 220 runs.

UNDER 16 B

ST. JOHNS 237/7 (R. Mellor 88, H. Purdon 36*, J. Whalley 24). WATERSHED 60. St Johns won by 177 runs.

UNDER 15 A

ST. JOHNS 296/8 (G. Ziegler 77, M. Newbould 59, D. Browne 59; A. Brown 15-0-56-2, T. Machinguwa 24-0-95-2). WATERSHED 122/8 (T. Machinguwa 26*, M. Passaportis 11-4-26-4, M. Zishiri 14-8-15-2, G. Ziegler 11-2-29-2). Match drawn.

UNDER 15 B

ST. JOHNS 244/2 (Y. Omarshah 104*, R. Elliot 75, M. Humphreys 36*). WATERSHED 45 (S. Swinfen 4-1-4-2, U. Desai 4-0-13-3, R. Elliot 1.2-1-0-3). St Johns won by 199 runs.

UNDER 14 A

WATERSHED 80 (C. Whitaker 33, L. Heath 8-3-15-4, A. Theron 7-2-9-2, R. Haig 6.2--4-3-2). ST. JOHNS 174/9 (M. Brundle 60, S. Caldecott 33, R. Kidd 31; Partridge 11-2-29-2, Rasteiro 5-0-32-2). St Johns won by eight wickets.

UNDER 14 B

ST. JOHNS 256/8 (S. Glynn 101*). WATERSHED 47. St Johns won by 209 runs.

ST. JOHNS VERSUS PETERHOUSE JANUARY 29

Heavy rain on Friday caused the cancellation of matches at Peterhouse but matches went on at St. Johns.

1ST X1 MATCH

Peterhouse won the toss (the third consecutive weekend that St. Johns have lost the toss) and elected to bat on a dry, firm wicket. St. Johns had early success with two wickets but opener Richard Linnell and Andrew Durham put together a good 87-run partnership to take Peterhouse to a comfortable 125 for two at tea. Linnell often played and missed but struck the ball well when he middled it. St. Johns gave each of the batsmen a life but in the first two overs after tea were able to dismiss both batsmen without further addition to the score. However the Peterhouse middle order, well marshalled by skipper Barber, were able to build partnerships and with 16 runs coming off the last over before lunch Peterhouse were able to declare on 243 for seven. St. Johns got off to a slow start due to a good spell by opening bowlers Campbell Macmillan and Andrew Durham. Macmillan had just returned from the Under-19 World Cup and extracted a lot of good pace and bounce. Obviously the experience in Sri Lanka has done him a lot of good, though the prolonged high-pitched scream that he emitted when he got his first wicket is presumably the kind of antic that led a Sri Lankan journalist to describe him as 'excitable'. St. Johns were able to occupy the crease but not able to score runs and hence by the 23rd over were only 57 for two. The quick demise of experienced players Barney Rogers and Stephen Wright before tea led to St. Johns collapsing to 84 for seven at the start of the final compulsory 20 overs. However Stephen Cardoso and Gareth Palmer held their ends up to frustrate the Peterhouse drive for victory, though with ten overs to go Palmer was out to a good catch in the covers. Mathew Steel, who had spent most of the game off the field with illness, now built another stand with Cardoso which threatened to save the game for St. Johns, but Cardoso was bowled by Kevin Bedford and with eight balls remaining St. Johns were in for their third nail-biting finish in as many weeks. Not surprisingly the last over was entrusted to the promising Macmillan but it took a good low down slip catch to end Steel's resistance and give Peterhouse a well-deserved victory, though the boorish behaviour of a Peterhouse parent in shouting abuse at a St. Johns batsman is hopefully not a sign of things to come at school cricket matches as it leaves a sour taste in what are usually delightful sporting occasions for players, umpires and parents alike.

Scores

PETERHOUSE 243/7 (R. Linnell 59, A. Durham 48, Barber 43, C. Macmillan 41*; S.Cardoso 11-2-51-2, S. Wright 11-2-51-2). ST JOHNS 123 (M. Brundle 28, C. Macmillan 13-3-27-4, Mamvoto 7-2-15-3). Peterhouse won by 120 runs.

Other Scores

Under 16 A: ST JOHNS 155 (B. Taylor 60, D. Bradshaw 40, Jackson 21-4-56-4, Ballance 7-0-19-2). PETERHOUSE 143 (Mutsonziwa 46, Jackson 34, Keith 27, P. Moyo 16-8-20-7, M. Fynn 17-3-43-2). St. Johns won by 12 runs.

Under 15 A: ST JOHNS 206 (G. Ziegler 55, T. Browne 40, M. Newbould 35; R. Travers 15-0-56-5, Shearwood 10-1-42-3). PETERHOUSE 141 (R. Travers 23; G. Ziegler 12-4-30-3, T. Wallace 8.4-0-28-2). St. Johns won by 65 runs.

Under 14 A: PETERHOUSE 133 (Kitcat 30, Chigono 20; A. Theron 12-3-27-6, L. Hartley 3-1-9-2). ST JOHNS 136/9 (S. Phillips 44, Doolabh 10-1-51-4). St. Johns won by 1 wicket.