{"id":66424,"date":"2025-03-07T12:27:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T10:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=66424"},"modified":"2025-03-07T12:27:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T10:27:02","slug":"graeme-college-is-ready-for-schools-sa20-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=66424","title":{"rendered":"Graeme College is ready for Schools SA20 finals"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"At
At just 15 years of age, Corbin Tidbury has already played some significant innings for the Graeme College 1st XV. Photo: supplied.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Graeme College<\/strong> players\u2019 bags are packed, and they are ready to make the 10-and-half-hour journey to Pretoria for the Schools SA20<\/strong> national finals, which take place from 12-15 March. The boys from Makhanda will not be travelling to make up the numbers.<\/p>\n

Coach Odwa Xonxa<\/strong>\u2019s charges are battle-tested. They took a longer route to the national finals. In their district tournament, they defeated St Andrew’s College<\/strong> and Union High <\/strong>before falling to Pearson High<\/strong> in the semifinals.<\/p>\n

That led them down the path of Cricket South Africa’s Focus Schools<\/strong>, where they made short work of their opposition, recording three wins in three outings against Hudson College<\/strong>, Dale College<\/strong>, and Prestige College<\/strong> in December 2024.<\/p>\n

Andrew Muir,<\/strong> Graeme’s captain, showed up with the bat and, especially, the ball. He was Graeme\u2019s leading wicket-taker on their way to the finals, while left-handed opener Enrique Strydom<\/strong> led the way with the bat, averaging in the 40s in the preliminary rounds.<\/p>\n

Corbin Tidbury<\/strong> was also a revelation during Graeme College’s campaign. The 15-year-old registered a pair of half-centuries for the first team this season, both of them in the 90s.<\/p>\n

Tidbury has long shown his potential. Last year, he was a member of the Eastern Province<\/strong> side that lifted the title at the CSA u16 National Week<\/strong>. He dominated his age group, decimating opposition bowling attacks, and he will bring the same energy to the team as his Proteas’ hero, Aiden Markram<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Xonxa has backed Tidbury’s talent and temperament. His stream of centuries at u15 level showed that he was ready to compete against better opponents. He is a coveted 3D player and also bowls leg- or off-spin, keeps wicket, and is excellent in the field.<\/p>\n

Graeme College’s young side features four other players – Lisekho Zinyane<\/strong>, Jordan Damons<\/strong>, Andrew Muir, and their first-choice wicketkeeper Zukho Phontshi – <\/strong>from the title-winning Eastern Province u16 side.<\/p>\n

Pontshi was also selected for the Eastern Warriors Cubs<\/strong> team as one of two Graeme College players in the side. The other was Luphelo Mdyesha<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Mdyesha has a wealth of experience and is one of the leaders in the team. He turned out for the Eastern Province u19<\/strong> side at the Khaya Majola Coke Week<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Graeme College doesn\u2019t just bring talent to the national finals, however. They also bring a never-say-die spirit that has carried them far.<\/p>\n

“We are going to leave everything on the field. The boys are excited for this opportunity. They will not hold back. They will express themselves and have a lot of fun in the process,” Xonxa said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Graeme College players\u2019 bags are packed, and they are ready to make the 10-and-half-hour journey to Pretoria for the Schools SA20 national finals, which take place from 12-15 March. The boys from Makhanda will not be travelling to make up the numbers. Coach Odwa Xonxa\u2019s charges are battle-tested. They took a longer route to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":66430,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/66430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}