{"id":88474,"date":"2026-01-14T15:41:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=88474"},"modified":"2026-01-14T15:41:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:41:05","slug":"kempton-park-set-to-make-finsbury-league-a-section-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=88474","title":{"rendered":"Kempton Park set to make Finsbury League A Section comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo: Supplied<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saturday will mark a historic moment in the Finsbury League<\/strong> as Ho\u00ebrskool Kempton Park<\/strong> turns out in the A Section for the first time in 25 years.<\/p>\n

The Kempies<\/strong><\/em> earned a return to the league’s top tier in February 2025 with a six-wicket victory over Ho\u00ebrskool Nelspruit<\/strong> in Mbombela. That win sealed their promotion to the elite section, which consists of seven leagues featuring schools from across the Noordvaal region.<\/p>\n

In the A Section, each side plays five round-robin matches, with the top two advancing to the final, scheduled for 21 February, at the home ground of the highest-ranked qualifier.<\/p>\n

Kempton Park’s first test back among the elite will come on Saturday, 17 January, when they visit Pretoria’s Ho\u00ebrskool Menlopark<\/strong>. The Parkies<\/strong> <\/em>will be well prepared after a productive showing at the recent Grey Festival<\/strong> in Gqeberha, where they recorded a notable victory over Glenwood<\/strong> and also accounted for the St Charles College Colts XI<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Menlopark boasts a balanced squad of proven campaigners and emerging talent. One of the new faces, Johan Bosch<\/strong>, has already made a strong impression. The all-rounder produced a Man of the Match performance against Glenwood, contributing an unbeaten 38 and outstanding bowling figures of 5\/37.<\/p>\n

Among the experienced core are Jan-Willem Pienaar<\/strong>, Monr\u00e9 Koekemoer<\/strong>, and the tall off-spinner Murray Hofmeyr<\/strong>. Pienaar, in particular, has impressed over the past three seasons with his flowing batsmanship, while Koekemoer’s batting consistency adds a further threat.<\/p>\n

For the Kempies, much of the focus will fall on Sheldon Kruger<\/strong>, the linchpin of their batting order. He enjoyed a remarkable 2025 season, highlighted by the only double century in the Noordvaal and outstanding performances at the CSA<\/strong> u17 Regional Week<\/strong> in December. Those efforts, and an injury to Xavier Coetzee<\/strong>, opened up his selection for the Northern Champions<\/strong> at the recent Cubs Week<\/strong> in Stellenbosch, where the side went unbeaten and claimed the title.<\/p>\n

Kruger will also enjoy the support of the experienced Hanroux Siemens<\/strong> and Stian van Breda<\/strong>, who return for their final year at Kempton Park. They’ll be a crucial part of the middle order as they were when the Kempies dethroned Hans Moore<\/strong> as Easterns’ League champions. An intriguing battle between bat and ball awaits in the season opener.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the Finbury League, the clash between Potchefstroom Volkskool<\/strong> and Ho\u00ebrskool Rustenburg<\/strong>, originally scheduled for Saturday, has been postponed to 25 January due to the Rusties<\/strong><\/em>‘\u00a0involvement in the Switch Schools SA20 Central Region Play-offs<\/strong> in Potchefstroom. Meanwhile, Ho\u00ebrskool Eldoraigne<\/strong> and Ho\u00ebrskool Waterkloof<\/strong> meet on 21 January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday will mark a historic moment in the Finsbury League as Ho\u00ebrskool Kempton Park turns out in the A Section for the first time in 25 years. The Kempies earned a return to the league’s top tier in February 2025 with a six-wicket victory over Ho\u00ebrskool Nelspruit in Mbombela. That win sealed their promotion to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":88486,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88474","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\/88474","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=88474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/88486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}