THE INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS CRICKET FESTIVAL

What a difference a few months make!! 

Towards the end of 2021, players and coaches were at last provided with some initial sporting challenges again after the unprecedented times and effects of the Covid pandemic, and this meant that parents and other spectators also started to return to school sporting events. The first competitive inter-school fixtures in almost two years served as the perfect appetiser for what the St Alban’s College cricketers and their many supportive family members were allowed to feast on again at the start of 2022.  

The current academic year saw a return to a full summer sporting programme as everyone knew it prior to the world-wide lockdown, which had such a significant impact on aspiring sportsmen/women who simply missed out totally on what should have been the highlight of their school sporting careers.   

 As part of our preparation, some thirty extremely excited and committed young cricketers returned early from their December holiday period and ‘kicked-off’ the cricket year with a highly successful training camp that was held from 5 to 8 January. This was aimed at shaking off the ‘Covid Cobwebs’ and preparing for the 1st term fixtures and various cricket festivals that had at last found their rightful place in the summer schedule again. 

Not even the usual January thunderstorms could dampen the spirits of the boys who clearly enjoyed being in the company of their teammates and were put through their paces by their respective coaches. The camp programme consisted of net and fielding sessions, as well as a couple of game awareness discussions and ended with a visit to the Cricket South Africa Centre of Excellence, where three of the country’s most experienced first-class players, Malusi Siboto, Aaron Phangiso and Henry Davids, conducted specialist skills’ sessions for our seam bowlers, spinners and batsmen in the state-of-the-art indoor facility.         

This preparation stood our cricketers in good stead in the early-year fixtures against traditional rivals such as St Benedict’s, Affies, Parktown and St John’s, leading up to the Independent Schools Cricket Festival that made a long-awaited return to the schools’ cricket calendar towards the end of February. St Alban’s has played host to this annual event for over a quarter of a century already and the College was thrilled to welcome and entertain some of the finest cricketing schools from around the country and near neighbours, Zimbabwe. Twenty teams assembled in Pretoria to participate in what can only be described as an annual celebration of cricket as a wealth of cricketing talent and the future South African cricketing stars showcased their skills.  

Apart from the quality of cricket normally associated with this remarkable tournament and the magnificent opportunity that it offers hundreds of aspirant cricketers to pit themselves against their peers, the 2022 version will long be remembered for signalling the return to some form of cricketing normality after the endless frustrations and disappointments experienced by so many in the preceding two years. 

While the St Alban’s 1st XI continued with the promise and form it displayed on a number of occasions in matches prior to the festival and went unbeaten during the tournament, in the end it was a case of the old cliché that ‘cricket was the real winner’, notwithstanding a number of outstanding individual and team performances. 

Having two hundred and sixty cricketers from the length and breadth of South Africa as well as from across our northern border competing on 10 ovals daily in and around Pretoria once again, is something that is extremely difficult to quantify. Many rivalries were renewed, new friendships were forged and there was great camaraderie among the teammates and opposition players alike; the kind of camaraderie that is unique to ‘bat and ball!’ 

But this camaraderie extended way beyond the boundary. Hundreds of parents, grandparents, siblings and friends of our visiting players helped create a carnival atmosphere at the various venues and they too revived relationships and made contact with old cricketing acquaintances after a lengthy period of no contact. In fact, there was sufficient evidence during the matches and specifically at the traditional ‘parents’ function’ to suggest that the family members had suffered as much deprivation at the hands of the pandemic as any of the players did. 

The Independent Schools Cricket Festival has well and truly made a comeback, and with St Alban’s College celebrating its Jubilee Year in 2023, the next edition certainly promises to be a bumper tournament!

ANTON FERREIRA
Director of Cricket

MEDICAL INFORMATION

INTERCARE – GLENFAIR SHOPPING CENTRE
OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK
Monday to Friday 07h00-19h00
Saturday and Sunday 08h00-18h00
Tel: (012) 368 8800
Glenfair Shopping Centre, Cnr Lynnwood and Daventry Road, Lynnwood Glen, Pretoria
Intercare Glenfair Website

FAERIE GLEN HOSPITAL
OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK / 24 HOURS
Tel: (012) 369 5600
309 Sprokie Avenue, Faerie Glen, Pretoria
Faerie Glen Hospital Website

ST ALBAN’S COLLEGE MARSH MEDICAL CENTRE (SANITORIUM)
The St Alban’s College Sanitorium will be open during the course of the festival please contact any St Alban’s College staff member for details.

PHYSIO
Slade Wiedeman will be available in the Tom Hamilton Wellness Centre
Mobile: 072 378 0376

EVENING FUNCTIONS

WEDNESDAY 23 FEBRUARY
18h00 Supper for boys in the dining hall
18h30 Managers/Coaches meeting and supper – Anton Murray Pavilion.

THURSDAY 24 FEBRUARY
18h00 Supper for boys in the dining hall
18h30 – 19h00 Staff Function at the Anton Murray Pavilion

FRIDAY 25 FEBRUARY
18h00 Supper for boys in dining hall
18h30 Spit Braai for all Parents*, Coaches and Managers

*Purchase tickets at the tuck shop or the George Weetman Room at the Anton Murray Pavilion

SATURDAY 26 FEBRUARY
Team night out – No meals in the dining room

SUNDAY 27 FEBRUARY
Teams depart

TIME CRICKET
DAY 1

THURSDAY 24 FEBRUARY
Start and sessions of play

1st Session: 09h00–11h00
Drinks: 11h00–11h15
2nd Session: 11h15–13h00
Lunch: 13h00–14h00
3rd Session: 14h00–15h45
Drinks: 15h45–16h00
4th Session: 16h00–Close
Final hour: 16h45 (minimum of 16 overs)

MINIMUM OVERS IN THE DAY

120 overs in a day or a minimum of 16 overs per hour provided there are no interruptions due to rain.
If play is suspended due to adverse weather overs are reduced by 1 over for every 3.75 minutes.
Where there is a change of innings during the day’s play except during lunch or tea, the loss of 2 overs will take place.
A minimum of 16 overs must be bowled in the last hour.

INNINGS

IN THE EVENT OF THE TEAM WINNING THE TOSS AND ELECTING TO BAT:

The team batting first: 65 overs maximum
The team batting second: 55 overs maximum

IN THE EVENT OF THE TEAM WINNING THE TOSS AND ELECTING TO FIELD:

The team batting first: 75 overs maximum
The team batting second: 45 overs maximum

 LIMITED OVERS MATCHES
DAYS 2, 3 & 4

FRIDAY 25 & SATURDAY 26 FEBRUARY
50 Over Games

Matches commence: 09h00 
Lunch: 12h30 
Matches recommence: 13h30 
Close of play: 17h00 
Drinks after 17 and 34 overs

SUNDAY 27 FEBRUARY
T20 Matches 

09h30 Matches Commence
1st Session 09h30 – 10h50
Interval 10h50 – 11h10
2nd Session 11h10 – 12h30

Fields info

 

 

 

Thursday 24 February  – Time Cricket

Friday 25 February – 50 Overs

Saturday 26 February – 50 Overs

Sunday 27 February – T20

 

 

ICSF 2023

The 2023 Independent Schools Cricket Festival will take place from 22 to 26 February 2023. It will be one of the special occasions where we celebrate our 60^th anniversary (Diamond Jubilee). With a track record of over 30 years, the ISCF has been with the school for more than half of its existence and we will be acknowledging this. 

The 19 school teams (260+ players) that participated in 2022 have already confirmed attendance including the two schools from Zimbabwe. We are also looking forward to the match against the community-based development invitational team entered by the
Titans from their hubs and regional performance centres.

Keep an eye on this page for important announcements, sponsor reveals and details about the 2023 Festival.