On Saturday our u13A cricket team played a limited overs match against Frans Conradie. After losing the toss we were asked to bowl first by our guests. Alutha Wesi and Shaakir Kazi opened the bowling and put together a brutal opening spell dismissing our visitors for 36 runs in 12 overs. After shuffling our batting order Union chased down their total in 11 overs securing a 6 wicket win.
Alutha Wesi 5/18 in 6 overs
On Friday, 22 February, three athletes represented the Karoo Team at the Sarah Baartman Athletics Meeting at the Oval in Port Elizabeth. We appreciate each one of them – having the commitment to take part in the event, while still having the Matric Dance, the same evening!
The athletes received the following places:
Silver:
Erin Mitchell – High Jump, Girls u/17
Fourth Places:
Matthew Carelse, 400 m and 800 m, Boys u/17
Iviwe Ndamane, 800 m, Open Boys
Union 1st hockey girls travelled to Gill College on the 23 February to participate in their annual Sports day.
The girls arrived with a positive attitude and only 1 goal in mind, to leave with 2 victories. With only 25 minutes per game to prove our skill and determination, we entered our 1st encounter against Nico Malan first team, which saw the girls come out as 2-0 victors. They stuck to the game plan and the 1st box was ticked. Nico Malan must be commended on keeping Union honest as they had a few chances, which were kept out by our goalkeeper, Sakhe Booi. We then met Volkskool’s 2nd team in our 2nd fixture of the day and came out as comfortable winners, winning 9 goals to nothing. Goals by captain, Jenna McNaughton – 4, Micela Loock – 2 and 1 a piece for Rosslyn Sparks, Marchѐ Green and Henzѐ Japhta.
On Saturday 23rd February the mighty “Whites” set off for Somerset East to play in the Gill Sports Day. Our opponents on the day was Hoërskool Cillié from Port Elizabeth, who are known for being physical up front and elusive at the back. The boys prepared really well in the week as we knew this would be a tough contest. The fixture was scheduled for 14:00 in very hot conditions.
We started the game very well putting a number of phases together, showing maturity as we held on to the ball and did not panic. After fourteen minutes of continuous attack Cillie’s defenses were finally breached by Cleathon Koeberg who crossed over the line with great strength and body positioning. The conversion was unsuccessful. We continued to apply loads of pressure as we dominated possession and territory for most of the game. Ten minutes after scoring our first try, Jaden Brotherton burst through the defensive line and evaded seven Cillié players before linking up with Brett Amsterdam who ran a good support line to give off the final pass to Bladen Jacobs who dotted down for an amazing team try. The conversion was unsuccessful and we went into the break 10-0 up.
The second half was very similar to the first in the sense that we dominated possession and territory. We attacked wave after wave, but unfortunately didnt convert all the opportunities we had into points. Fifteen minutes into the second half, we were awarded a penalty try for cynical play by Cillié who caught the ball in an offside position as we were about to score. This increased our score to 17-0 which ended up being the final result.
Every player in the squad got some game time which is the purpose of pre-season fixtures. All in all the boys delivered a decent performance in our first game of the season.
On Thursday, 21 February, our u13A Cricket team played a T20 match against Frans Conradie from Despatch. We lost the toss and were asked to bat. Our batsmen got off to a great start through a 57-run partnership between Alutha Wesi and Peter Michaels paving the way for the middle order to score freely ending our 20 overs on 145/5. Frans Conradie then replied with some positive batting keeping our bowlers honest. Good fielding kept our opponents under pressure a…nd they ended their 20 overs on 79/5 with Union winning by 66 runs.
Jayden Swart 49*
Alutha Wesi 27
Peter Michaels 27
Our u11A team played Frans Conradie on Thursday, 21 February. Union won the toss and elected to bowl first. The bowlers worked well together to restrict the opponents to 61 in their twenty overs. Union came in to bat and got off to a good start, but a quick few wickets put us under pressure. Jade Lottering and Peter-Daniel Clegg built a solid partnership and in the end we passed their score with 6 wickets down, winning by 4 wickets.
On Wednesday, 20 February, our u11 boys played a T20 match against Niko Brummer of Beaufort West. Our guest were asked to bat first and started with a conservative approach. Our bowlers kept the run rate down and restricted Niko Brummer to 45 runs in their 20 overs. Our batsmen replied aggressively and chased down the score in the 6th over to win by 8 wickets. Richard Murray took 4 for 7 in 4 overs and Daniel Short scored 25 not out.
On Tuesday 19 February Union hosted the annual Primary Interschools Athletics Meeting with Laer Volkskool. In perfect weather conditions, our beautiful school fields were a hive of activity where the athletes were involved in a total of 64 events ranging from U7 to U13, involving field and track events. Many of the races were very closely contested making it difficult for the place judges. All participants need to be commended on their good sportsm…anship throughout the day. This ensured that an enjoyable event could take place. Many thanks must go to our neighbours Laer Volkskool for their participation and for competing in good spirit.
During the meeting 14 new records were set, 5 by Union athletes.
Congratulation to the following on setting new records:
Alutha Wesi – Boys u13 200m, 100m
Siphosethu Vena – Girls u13 100m
Daniel Short – Boys u11 High Jump, 100m
The final point’s position was: Union- 1074 and LVS – 774
On Monday the 18th of February the top 6 Junior boys and girls enjoyed a wonderful afternoon’s tennis against Gill Primary. The boys matches were tightly contested with Union losing 3 matches to 4. Special mention must be made of Peter-Daniel Clegg who won both his singles and doubles matches.
The girls did well to win by 9 matches to 0.
On Saturday our U13A boys played a limited over match against Laerskool Albertyn from Uitenhage. The match was played in Great Spirit with Union winning the toss and electing to bowl first, our bowlers immediately hit the right areas and put Albertyn under pressure, we managed to take wickets at regular intervals and bowled Albertyn out for 34 in 15 overs. Shaakir Kazi was the pick of the bowlers with 7 for 4 in 6 overs. Our batsmen managed to reach the target in 4th overs with one wicket down securing a 9 wicket win.
The U11A cricket team played a limited over match against Albertyn on the weekend. They won the toss and elected to bowl first. Good bowling and two excellent run outs from the team led to our opposition being dismissed for 38 in 12 overs. Union came into to bat and passed their score in the 5th over, winning the game by 9 wickets
On 13 February, we hosted Gill primary in a 20-over contest. Union won the toss and elected to take the field first. Our bowlers struggled to hit good lines, and missed run out opportunities made it easy for the Gill batsmen to score freely. Gill managed a respectable 137 for 3 in their allotted 20 overs. Our best bowlers were Warren Barlow with figures of 1-23 in 4 overs and Christopher John Moos picking up 1-17 in his 3 overs.
Union then went in to bat, with a slow start to the first 6 overs and losing 2 early wickets led to us falling behind. The middle overs provided much excitement and brought the run rate down, but losing wickets at crucial stages led to Union being 20 runs short of their target. Best batsmen were Yonela Wana – 13 and Josh Arends – 17. Union managed 118 for 9 in their 20 overs, losing by 19 runs.
Union won the toss and elected to bat. After losing two quick wickets a partnership was formed by Matthew Paxton and Josh Neil. Josh continued to bat well, later securing a 48 run partnership with Alastair Imrie. They ended on 142/6, with Josh on 37 not out.
Gill struggled to form partnerships due to consistent bowling from Matthew and the captain Jayden and were all bowled out in the 16th over for 61.
Union won the match by 81 runs.
Daniel Short achieved 2 bronze medals at the Sara Baartman athletics meeting in Port Elizabeth today. Congratulations Daniel!
Hoër Volkskool hosted the 2019 Interschools Gala at the Hoër Volkskool pool on Tuesday, 12 February. Although we were represented well in all age groups, Union swam against strong competition at this year’s Interschools gala. Our swimmers made Union proud by truly giving their all, many of them competing in every event they could to ensure points for Union. The final score was Union 302 – Volkskool 366.
While the loss is disappointing, we would like to thank the swimmers for their participation and determination, and congratulate them on their good behavior throughout the event. Thank you to Hoër Volkskool for hosting this event in their wonderful facilities; and, of course, to all the staff and pupils who gave up their time to officiate at the event. We look forward to the annual Karoo Interschools Gala held at the Hoër Volkskool pool.
