St George's College has traditionally been a strong cricketing school. Many famous names have made it through the ranks to the national senior team. Before independence the likes of Ray Gripper, `Goofy' Lawrence and Paddy Clift, and afterwards Grant Flower, the Rennie brothers (John and Gavin), Trevor Gripper and Brian Murphy have played for their country. There have been many more in this illustrious group.

The College cricket programme for the first term 2001 is:

20 Jan – v Eaglesvale
27 Jan – v Lomagundi
3 Feb – v St John's College
10 Feb – v Prince Edward
17 Feb – v Peterhouse

By mutual agreement among the schools, the junior `A' teams will play wherever the first eleven in playing, while the second team and junior `B' teams play their respective matches at the other school. Support for these matches at times is greater than for some of the national league and international games. The junior B teams from Under-14 to Under-16 play half-day matches while the other teams play full-day.

On Saturday 20 January St George's played against Eaglesvale. The results were as follows:

1st TEAM:      St George's 143; Eaglesvale 84
               St George's won by 59 runs

2nd XI:        Eaglesvale 142; St George's 138
               Eaglesvale won by 4 runs

Under-16 A:    St George's 170; Eaglesvale 62
               St George's won by 108 runs

Under-16 B:    St George's 131/4; Eaglesvale 33
               St George's won by 98 runs

Under-15 A:    St George's 94; Eaglesvale 97/3
               Eaglesvale won by seven wickets

Under-15 B:    Eaglesvale 142; St George's 136
               Eaglesvale won by 6 runs

Under-14 A:    St George's 89 and 77/4; Eaglesvale 71 and 68/8
               St George's won by 18 runs on first innings

Under-14 B:    Eaglesvale 32; St George's 33/2
               St George's won by eight wickets

FIRST TEAM

St George's 143 (J Cameron 36, L Perigoe 33)
Eaglesvale 84 (D Micklem 3/22, M Newberry 3/29)
St George's won by 59 runs

St George's were put in to bat on an overcast day. The outfield was heavy and scoring runs would be difficult. The `Vale bowlers bowled a tight line and they were ably supported by their fielders. While 143 all out was not a grand score, it would have to be achieved.

St George's College captain Gareth Crosland attacked from the onset. A cordon of seven fielders around the batsmen put pressure on the `Vale team, who did not recover from the loss of early wickets. In all St George's held nine catches. Added to some very tight bowling, the score of 143 became a winning total.

In all there were eight matches played between St George's and Eaglesvale. College won five of them and Eaglesvale the other three. In the Under-16 A game Colin de Grandhomme had a fine outing, scoring 46 and taking four for 20, which paved the way for a College victory by 108 runs.

Other notable College performances came from Hutchings (7/12) and M Abdullah (43) for the Under-16 Bs; W MacQuire (41) for the Under-15 Bs; and by S Torr (7/16) and Sivakumaran (42) for the Under-14 As.

In all it was a successful Saturday for St George's College.

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