iHlobo Festival takes up permanent residence at Kearsney

Kearsney College, in Botha’s Hill, hosts preseason cricket in early January, with four schools from KZN, two from Zimbabwe, and one each from Mpumalanga and Gauteng, participating in the iHlobo Cricket Festival.

Previously, the event had been hosted at various venues around South Africa, but in recent years Cape schools withdrew due to rising travel costs. The result was Kearsney and Michaelhouse taking over as co-hosts.

At the start of 2023, Michaelhouse hosted the event. It has since been agreed that Kearsney College will become the permanent home of the annual festival.

Local schools joining Kearsney include Clifton College, Michaelhouse and DHS. St Alban’s College makes the journey from Pretoria, while Uplands College takes the long road from White River. Two of Zimbabwe’s best, St John’s College (Harare) and Falcon College (Bulawayo), cross the border to test their skills.

Kearsney will host all the matches, with the action starting on Monday, 8 January, and finishing on Thursday, 11 January.

The format for the festival is declaration cricket on day one, followed by 50 overs on day two. All schools will play two T20s on the third day, with the event wrapping up with a single T20 on the last day.

FIXTURES

Monday, 8 January (Declaration)

Kearsney vs St John’s, Matterson
Clifton vs St Alban’s, Osler
DHS vs Michaelhouse, AH Smith
Uplands vs Falcon, Silcock

Tuesday, 9 January (50-over)

Kearsney vs St Alban’s, AH Smith
Clifton vs Uplands, Matterson
St John’s vs Michaelhouse, Silcock
DHS vs Falcon, Osler

Wednesday, 10 January (T20)

Clifton vs Falcon, AH Smith
Kearsney vs Michaelhouse, Matterson
St John’s vs Uplands, Osler
DHS vs St Alban’s, Silcock

Wednesday, 10 January (T20)

St John’s vs St Alban’s, AH Smith
DHS vs Uplands, Matterson
Kearsney vs Falcon, Osler
Clifton vs Michaelhouse, Silcock

Thursday, 11 January (T20)

Kearsney vs Clifton, AH Smith
Falcon vs Michaelhouse, Matterson
St Alban’s vs Uplands, Osler
DHS vs St John’s, Silcock

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Brad Morgan

A product of Clifton (Nottingham Road) and St Andrew's School (Bloemfontein), Brad Morgan played schools' provincial cricket and hockey. He has worked in radio, online and for newspapers. He also previously handled media matters for the Natal Canoe Club, which hosts the Dusi Canoe Marathon, and for the Midmar Mile. Brad has, furthermore, co-authored books on the Dusi Canoe Marathon and the Comrades Marathon. He holds no particular biases towards South African sports teams but, beyond South Africa's borders, is a big fan of the Green Bay Packers and Liverpool FC. Brad enjoys photography and music, and likes working to some good dub techno in the background.

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