St David’s ready to take on the 2024-25 season
St David’s Marist Inanda is shifting gears and focus as they look forward to limited overs cricket at the forthcoming Michaelmas Festival in late September.
The Jeff Levin-coached outfit began their preseason by recording back-to-back wins over St Andrew’s School and Bishops Diocesan College at the St David’s Fasken Time Cricket Festival.
“We’re fortunate enough to be invited to the Michaelmas Festival. It will help us get a few limited overs matches under our belt before we get into our main season,” Dave Nosworthy, the St David’s Director of Cricket, said. “It will give our side a little more experience. We’re going into this term with quite a young but exciting side.”
Nosworthy is looking forward to seeing what his side can do, not only at the Michaelmas Festival but through the season. The St David’s brand of cricket has evolved over the years. For a long time, the school resembled a medium pacer with limited skill who bowled a tight line. They did enough to compete, but they were not a big threat.
“We’ve grown our base and our depth to a position where we’re able to ensure that we’re taking games to the opposition, being as positive and aggressive as possible where the game allows it, all while ensuring that our cricket awareness levels are as good as anybody,” Nosworthy said, explaining how St David’s have evolved their game.
Nosworthy, who spent many years coaching in professional cricket, sourced competent support for Levin from that world. He brought in Grant Mokoena, a former SA u19 player, who enjoyed a career that spanned 18 years with the DP World Lions, the Multiply Titans, and the AET Auto Investments North West Dragons. Aya Myoli, another former first-class cricketer, is also part of the coaching staff, whose focus is bowling. Beyond the 1st XI, he also works with the U16, U15, and U14 outfits.
The trio, with the help of the rest of the St David’s cricket staff working with all the cricket teams, has been able to push the team forward in its transformation into a side and a school that plays smart-aggressive cricket. They hope to get the best out of this year’s crop, which is captained by Samrat Basu. The top-order batsman is also handy with the ball, a competent leg spinner with the ability to partner with the team’s frontline spinners, Ethan Greenstein and Morteza Manack.
“We have an all-round factor,” Nosworthy reckoned. “Our batting is very strong, and we bat deep and have got lots of bowling options. In the past, we struggled sometimes with that, but this year we have seam options, with different change-ups.”
Jason Rowles, who was selected for the SA Emerging u19 side that tours Zimbabwe in mid-to-late September, opens the batting with Armaan Manack, who had an outstanding year with the bat last year. Like his twin, Morteza, Armaan is a batting all-rounder. St David’s also has the wicketkeeping talents of Kamolemo Phiri. Phiri is the younger brother of Gomolemo Phiri, the dynamic middle-order batter who turned out for the Gauteng Lions at the previous Khaya Majola Week. Like his brother, Kamolemo is also dangerous with the bat.
With the ball, St David’s will have more than their all-rounders to rely upon. The all-rounders will be there to back up the frontline bowlers. They have the talents of a young and exciting fast bowler, Kyle Butler, whose serious pace makes one forget that he is only 16 years of age. He’ll be supported by Jared Beilings, Chris Emslie and Jared Stern.
St David’s also has Hayden Campbell, Khutso Sekgobela, and Robbie Mariano, who have all turned out for the Lions at u16 provincial level, to further enhance their batting lineup.
They will, though, be without the services of Matthew West, who captained the side earlier in the season, and who was a prolific run scorer. He’s currently attending Lions’ trials and together with Reece Reddy will miss the Michaelmas fixtures to focus on preparing for the matric exams.
In addition to their focus on batting and bowling, St David’s has worked on being a tight unit when in the field. They’re seeking ways to close down spaces, prevent singles, and reduce twos to singles. Besides challenging for the title in their league, this multi-pronged approach has St David’s geared up for a good go at the newly unveiled Schools SA20 tournament.
“It’s high pressure in terms of knockouts. You just get one or two chances to get it right when you only have three or four games to make it through to the Nationals,” Nosworthy reflected.
“It’s not a long competition, very much a knockout competition, but our team is quite well geared for T20 cricket, so hopefully we can stand up and be counted.”
St David’s Fixtures
Michaelmas Week
21 Sep v Kearsney
22 Sep v Michaelhouse
23 Sep v Northwood
24 Sep v Maritzburg College
2024 season
2 Oct v St Benedicts (h) T20
5 Oct v St Benedicts (a) 50
9 Oct v KES (a) JW*
11 Oct v TBA SA20
12 Oct v Northcliff (h) 50
16 Oct v St Stithians (h) JW
19 Oct v St John’s (h) 50
23 Oct v Queens (a) J W
30 Oct v Helpmekaar (h) JW
2 Nov v Pretoria Boys (h) 50
*JW denotes Johnny Waite Trophy
