Cricket Report 1999 - 1st XI

Taken from the Captain's speech at the Sports Dinner 1999

Cricket, explained simply, consists of two sides - one out in the field and one in. Each man that is in the side that's in goes out. When they are all out, the side that is out, comes in, and the side that's been in goes out, and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out. When both sides have been in and out including the not outs, that's the end of the game.

Cricket this year has had its fair share of successes and failures. The highlight of the season so far was undoubtedly a thrilling victory in the last over against a very capable Petrean side. The team boasted players such as Pswarayi and Moore-Gordon who are currently part of the Cricket Academy. We also managed two victories over Prince Edward in which we scored almost 300 in our 50 overs on the second occasion.

Andrew Durham with his match-winning 112 not out against the Petreans, along with Matthew Hosack's consistency, are two players who deserve special attention. Behind the stumps, Ian Ehrich proved to be quite outstanding. Hosack, MacMillan and myself have been selected for the final trials (MacMillan and Henderson were later chosen for the National U19 side to tour R.S.A and for the World Cup in Sri Lanka). On the bowling front, Linnel has showed that he's not just in the side for the cakes at tea time, when he delivered the goods in the final overs against P.E. (and a very impressive spell against Falcon). Zed Kundishora was definitely the find of the season with his cunning off-spin that won him the Petrean prize. He is also, however, a brilliant fielder who finds motivation in his belief that the ball is a meat pie.

Peterhouse teams have a reputation throughout the country for the spirit in which they play the game and this year's team is no exception. I am not however suggesting that teams enjoy playing us. MacMillan, who must be one of the fastest bowlers in schools cricket, ensures this, subtle comments from Linnel and much noise from Barber make the batsmen feel most unwelcome at the crease.

Altogether we have played 14, won 8 and drawn 2. I would also like to take this occasion to thank Mr Peter Roebuck along with Mr Davis who aren't finished with us yet as we have a strong Falcon team to beat.

Hilton Henderson

The 1st XI went on to beat that strong Falcon team with a very good weekend's performance. On the Saturday Peterhouse batted first and scored 281/8 declared with Craig scoring 86, Hosack 58 and Henderson an unbeaten 50. Falcon chased hard but fell short and the game ended in a draw. The Sunday game was limited overs and Peterhouse again batted first and scored 274/8, Hosack contributed with 40 and the captain scored 61. Falcon were restricted in a fantastic contest which we won by 5 runs. It was a memorable weekend that Peterhouse thoroughly deserved to win. Henderson captained quite brilliantly and certainly had a major influence on the result (not only with the bat!!).

My thanks go to Hilton Henderson who had an excellent year as captain, and to the team who ended up having a very good year. Congratulations to MacMillan who was awarded cricket colours and best of luck to the 1st XI of 2000.

Team from : H. Henderson (capt), M. Hosack (v-capt), H. Barber, K. Bedford, A. Craig, A. Durham, I. Ehrich, Z. Kundishora, R. Linnel, C. MacMillan, A. Mamvoto, N. Meikle, G. Simpson and A. Clement (scorer).

Results

Peterhouse 182 all out Barber 71, Hosack 44

Lomagundi 175-7

Draw

Prince Edward 157 all out Henderson 4-26

Peterhouse 160-7 Ehrich 39

Won by 3 wickets

Peterhouse 157-5 Ehrich 52*

Falcon 160-6

Lost by 4 wickets

Peterhouse 186 all out Ehrich 42, Durham 41

Marlborough 86 all out Henderson 5-21

Won by 100 runs

Peterhouse 202 all out Hosack 96

Lomagundi 203-3

Lost by 7 wickets

Peterhouse 220-6 Henderson 110

Eaglesvale 221-7 Henderson 3-41

Lost by 3 wickets

Peterhouse 213-9 Henderson 59, Linnel 48

Churchill 159-9

Won by 54 runs

Peterhouse 212 all out Hosack 57, Craig 38

St.John's 176 all out

Won by 36 runs

St.George's 250-4

Peterhouse 231 all out Henderson 55, Simpson 63

Lost by 19 runs

Petreans 276-8 Scott 101

Peterhouse 278-9 Durham 112*, Hosack 68, Henderson 50

Won by 1 wicket

Peterhouse 298-6 Durham 78, Henderson 69*

Prince Edward 234 all out MacMillan 4-33, Linnel 3-15

Won by 64 runs

Peterhouse 281-8 Craig 86, Hosack 58, Henderson 50*, Durham 32

Falcon 236-4 Bedford 3-44

Draw

Peterhouse 274-8 Henderson 61, Durham 43, Hosack 40, Linnel 38

Falcon 269-7

Won by 5 runs

St.John's 162 all out Henderson 5-22, Bedford 3-23

Peterhouse 164-3 Durham 91*,Craig 37 Won by 7 wickets

Peterhouse 1st XI 2000

We are still playing cricket in the first term, and practices and matches were again greatly affected 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.

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 very 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 traveled 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 1st 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 Beitbridge 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.