Kloof cricketers bowl over UK

FOURTEEN Kloof High School cricketers, accompanied by their three coaches, flew to South-East England in the Essex region. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the squad who were hosted by Davenant Foundation School, its partner school in England.

The itinerary included five matches in 12 days as well as sightseeing and, in the spirit of ‘giving back”, assisting with the running of a primary school’s sports day as well as hosting a coaching clinic at a local school. The boys found the bowling and fielding particularly challenging and weren’t able to secure a win in the first fixture. By the end of the match it was clear that the team had started to adjust to the English playing conditions.

The second fixture was unique in that the team played a touring Australian team, visiting from King’s School in Sydney. In spite of the sticky wicket from the rain, the boys looked like a different team from the first fixture. Having scored 149 all out, Kloof bowled out King’s School for 110 runs to secure a memorable victory. The third fixture was the last as the final two were washed out. The match was against the county school champions, Ilford Grammar School. The Kloof cricketers restricted the opposition to 134-3 in their 30 overs. Captain Kameeran Naicker lead the team to win by four wickets with five balls to spare.

“Kloof High School believes that experiences such as this are of immeasurable benefit. The school has seen three overseas cricket tours depart in the past seven years and the immense support that it shows towards co-curricular at the school. All the boys came home with more experience, great memories and a sense of team spirit that will carry forward into the upcoming season,” said Dawn le Fort, principal of Kloof High School.