Schoolboy cricket at its best

BACKYARD cricket with mates, the occasional broken window and a pitch that also served as your front lawn; for most cricketers this is a familiar scenario. The fence surrounding your makeshift pitch is the ‘boundary rope’ and skying the tennis ball wrapped in tape into the next door neighbour’s lawn is six.

While this is an ideal way to excel in the game, it doesn’t quite offer the crucial phase of learning and honing your skills. For Shaun Pollock the perfect way to transition into the hardball version is schoolboy cricket.

This is one of the reasons he partnered with Northwood School who will host the Shaun Pollock U14 cricket festival in October. The festival now entering its second year sees 11 other schools compete to show their cricketing credentials.

“It’s a great way to start the cricket season. The calibre of the competing schools is high which will make for some exciting cricket over the four days. It’s also an opportunity for young cricketers making the transition to show what they are capable off,” Pollock said.

A Northwood Old Boy, Pollock had the honour of having one of the school’s main pitches being renamed the Shaun Pollock Oval (previously Smith Oval).

Northwood School sports administrator Brian Gow said he is particularly looking forward to this year’s festival.

“Festivals featuring top schools like this one is a valuable learning experience for budding cricketers. It’s also an awesome experience for youngsters to meet one of South Africa’s cricketing legends,” Gow said.

Competing teams: Northwood School, Northwood Invitational Team, Queen’s College, Paarl Gym, a development team, Glenwood High School, Centurion, Hoërskool Waterkloof, Parktown Boys’ High, Grantleigh School, Penryn College and Thomas More College.