Month: February 2013

Northwood maintained their unbeaten record on Friday night, with a good 17 – 0 victory over Pinetown.  Although there seems to be some confusion regarding the new scrumming laws, Northwood’s pack performed well and were too strong for Pinetown.  Hooker Trevor Nkwamba scored late in the first half to ensure Northwood had a half time lead of 7 – 0.  TC Edmunds and Thabo Thabete scored in the second half to ensure a third successive victory.  While Northwood have not yet hit their stride, the team has conceded only 6 points in 3 games – far better than any other team in the competition.

Coach Donald Ngwenya has utilised a squad rotation system to ensure the 32 boys in contention for a spot in the 1^st team get sufficient exposure and this has worked well.  It has enabled him to work around the swimming, water polo and cricket commitments of some of the players and has also given him the luxury of being able to rest players with minor injuries.  Other schools in the competition do not face the same challenges with overlapping sports and thus have a distinct advantage this early in the season.

Tuesday night sees Northwood taking on Port Natal, who managed a last gasp victory over George Campbell on Friday night. It promises to be a great game and possibly a dress rehearsal for the finals.

In the opening 1^st team game of the Port Natal Night Series, Northwood took on a very spirited Durban Development side.  The writing was on the wall within minutes, as some slick handling by the backs saw the first try on the scoreboard for Northwood. The team raced to a huge lead in the first half, with the only disappointment being the goal kicking (with cricket being played, there are no posts to practice so this is understandable).

The second half saw the rain slowing down the scoring rate, as the ball and underfoot conditions became slippery.  Determined to keep Durban Development scoreless, Northwood almost let one of the opposition through.  Some dogged determination by Northwood saw him being chased down and tackled just short of the line. Northwood managed to maintain the advantage and ended the game on a good note, scoring almost a point a minute in beating Durban Development 48 – 0.

While there were some boys who really stood out, every player contributed and no-one had a bad game (which is exceptional, considering it is the first game of the season).  Tuesday sees us taking on George Campbell in what should be a cracker of a game.

Northwood at the crease

A tail end run pile steered Northwood’s innings to an average score of 124 in
47 overs. Northwood’s Nazeer Jaffer scored 20 from 51 before No. 9 Greg
Wright aided his team with 38 runs of his own. Northwood’s middle order
suffered from early wickets as Michaelhouse’s James de Chastelain and Luke
Stevens supplied bowling economy’s lower than 2.0 taking 7 wickets amongst
themselves. De Chastelain forced two edges for Kyle Pyne James to collect and
Sereshin Moodley and Yetish Ramsurrup were sent to the pavilion for low
scores..

Michaelhouse at the crease

Northwood had to defend their low score and a confident Michaelhouse eased
into the challenge.

Jason Marshall and Bradley Roberts opened the batting and a miscommunication
led to an early run out – Roberts walked after 3 balls. Northwood’s early
breakthrough gave them momentum and Brendan Bergs followed just after Roberts
as he was caught by Grant Getkate off the bowling of Moodley.

Enter speedster Dale van der Merwe who dismissed danger-man Luke Stevens for
1. Michaelhouse now 10/3, Van der Merwe continued as he clean bowled Barrie
Forrester-Smith to put Michaelhouse 10/4.

Jason Marshall was the only top order batsmen remaining and started chipping
away at the Northwood bowlers. Kyle Pyne-James aided the Michaelhouse run
rate as he rotated the strike with Marshall. A partnership between the two
Michaelhouse batsmen had formed and before it could get going Northwood’s
Yetish Ramsurrup intervened to bowl out Pyne-James for 17. Eight runs later
Northwood struck again thanks to Keegan Rawling.

Jason Marshall was then caught and bowled by Ramsurrup putting Michaelhouse
in trouble at 66/7, 58 runs shy of their target.  Dale van der Merwe and
Yetish Ramsurrup cleaned up the tail end to stun Michaelhouse much to
Northwoods elation. Northwood won by 46 runs.

Northwood Batting Innings

Michaelhouse Bowling Innings

Michaelhouse Batting Innings

Northwood Bowling Innings

Northwood win by 46 runs

Article courtesy of HSSM magazine.