It’s Michaelmas cricket time!
All roads lead to the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands where 26 of the country’s top cricketing schools will converge at Maritzburg College for the 65th edition of the Oppenheimer Michaelmas Cricket Week, which will run from 4 to 7 October 2025.
Michaelmas, as the event is commonly called, is the oldest “private” cricket festival in the country. The showpiece was first staged in 1959 and has been held every year since, with the exception of 1970 and 2020.
Fourteen fields have been made available for this year’s edition.
Eight matches will be played on Maritzburg College’s Goldstone’s and Barns’ pitches over the four days of the festival.
Other venues include Collegians, Lynwood, Eston, Hilton, St Charles, Varsity 1, MP Oval – Woodlands, Richmond, Howick, Kearsney, and Michaelhouse‘s two fields, Roy Gathorne and Hannahs.
The host province, KZN, has a strong lineup of participating schools, which includes Glenwood, Clifton, Durban High (DHS), Hilton, St Charles, Westville, Michaelhouse, Kearsney, Northwood, and the hosts, Maritzburg College.
Gauteng also has a 10-team contingent, equally divided between its two regions, the Titans and the Lions.
Pretoria Boys, St Alban’s, Affies, Waterkloof, and Cornwall Hill will fly the flag for the Titans region, while St David’s Marist Inanda, St John’s College, Jeppe, St Stithians, and King Edward VII (KES) represent the Lions.
Three teams – Paarl Boys’ High, Paul Roos, and Paarl Gimnasium will travel from Western Cape, and Grey College will make a six-and-a-half-hour trip from the Free State. Like the Free State, the Eastern Cape has only one representative at the festival in Hudson Park. The CSA Invitational team completes the lineup.
The teams will each play three 50-over matches before contesting T20 fixtures on the final day of the festival.
FIXTURES
Saturday, 4 October: Maritzburg College vs Pretoria Boys (Goldstone’s), Glenwood vs St Alban’s (Barns’), Jeppe vs Hudson Park (Collegians), Clifton vs Paarl Boys (Lynwood), DHS vs St Stithians (Eston), Hilton vs Grey College (Hilton), St Charles vs Paul Roos (St Charles), Westville vs St David’s (Varsity 1), Cornwall Hill vs CSA Invitational (MP Oval – Woodlands), Michaelhouse vs Affies (Michaelhouse Roy Gathorne), Northwood vs Waterkloof (Michaelhouse Hannahs), Kearsney vs KES (Richmond), St John’s vs Paarl Gim (Howick).
Sunday, 5 October: Maritzburg College vs St John’s (Goldstone’s), Westville vs Grey College (Barns’), DHS vs St David’s (Collegians), Kearsney vs Waterkloof (Lynwood), Hudson Park vs St Alban’s (Eston), Hilton vs Affies (Hilton), St Charles vs KES (St Charles), Glenwood vs CSA Invitational (Varsity 1), Clifton vs St Stithians (MP Oval), Michaelhouse vs Paul Roos (Michaelhouse Roy Gathorne), Jeppe vs Paul Gim (Michaelhouse Hannahs), Cornwall Hill vs Northwood (Richmond), Paarl Boys vs Pretoria Boys (Howick).
Monday, 6 October: Maritzburg College vs Grey College (Goldstone’s), Clifton vs KES (Barns’), Cornwall Hill vs Paul Roos (Collegians), CSA Invitational vs Paarl Gim (Lynwood), Kearsney vs Jeppe (Eston), Hilton vs St David’s (Hilton), St Charles vs Hudson Park (St Charles), DHS vs Pretoria Boys (Varsity 1), Glenwood vs Waterkloof (MP Oval), Michaelhouse vs St Alban’s (Michaelhouse Roy Gathorne), Westville vs St Stithians (Michaelhouse Hannahs), St John’s vs Paarl Boys (Richmond), Northwood vs Affies (Howick).
Tuesday, 7 October: Maritzburg College vs Paarl Boys (Goldstone’s), Cornwall Hill vs Hudson Park (Barns’), Pretoria Boys vs Paarl Gim (Collegians), Glenwood vs Jeppe (Lynwood), Paul Roos vs Waterkloof (Eston), Hilton vs KES (Hilton), St Charles vs St David’s (St Charles), Northwood vs St Stithians (Varsity 1), Westville vs Affies (MP Oval), Michaelhouse vs St John’s (Michaelhouse Roy Gathorne), DHS vs Grey College (Michaelhouse Hannahs), Kearsney vs St Alban’s (Kearsney), Clifton vs CSA Invitational (Howick).
