GRAEME COLLEGE SEAL NATIONAL FINALS PLACE VIA FOCUS SCHOOLS KNOCKOUT TOURNAMENT

Graeme College are the first team to claim one of eight places in the Schools SA20 National Finals for boys after winning a knockout tournament of Cricket South Africa's leading Focus Schools on 2-3 December in Qonce.

Graeme saw off Prestige College from Hammanskraal in the final of the tournament which also featured Hudson Park High School from East London and hosts Dale College Boys' High School. As a result, they will be in action when the National Finals (Phase 3 of Schools SA20) takes place at the University of Pretoria from 12-15 March 2025.

The four schools who took part in the mini-tournament, were chosen by Cricket South Africa using the Schools Quality Index as a qualification criterion, and each had solid runs during Phase 1 of Schools SA20 'proper'.

Graeme, who made full use of their 'second bite at the cherry', fell at the semifinal stage of the Eastern Province leg. Initially they emerged from the Makhanda regionals, thrashing Port Alfred High School by 277 runs before claiming a 4-wicket victory over their prestigious neighbours, St Andrew's College. Thereafter, Graeme beat Union High School from Graaff-Reinet in the quarterfinals before Pearson High School ended their initial campaign, by 16 runs, one step short of progression to Stage 2 - which will take place in January-February 2025.

Prestige, too, just missed out on qualifying for Phase 2 in the Titans leg of Schools SA20 Phase 1. They beat Atteridgeville Hub (by 3 wickets) and Hoërskool Akasia (by 85 runs in a rain-affected match) in the group fixtures, before a quarterfinal win over Laudium Hub pitted them against Hoërskool Garsfontein in the semifinals. As it happened, Garsies eased to a 7-wicket victory to deny Prestige progression while sealing their own.

During the Border leg, eventual winners Selborne beat Hudson Park in the East London regionals while Dale also lost to them, agonisingly in the semifinals, by 29 runs.

DID YOU KNOW?

Graeme College, who turned 150 years old in 2023, have produced:

• seven SA Schools players
• one SA Colts player
• two SA Under-19 players, namely brothers Jon-Jon and Kelly Smuts
• Durban's Super Giants allrounder, Jon-Jon Smuts is the only senior international player produced by the school. He's played 6 ODIs and 13 T20Is.

To read more about cricket at Graeme College, click here

Main image: Graeme College Facebook