{"id":90699,"date":"2026-02-18T18:10:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T16:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=90699"},"modified":"2026-02-18T18:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T16:10:24","slug":"fixtures-for-the-2026-independent-schools-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=90699","title":{"rendered":"Fixtures for the 2026 Independent Schools Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hard-hitting
Hard-hitting all-rounder Luke Wilson could be a key player for Hilton College at the 2026 Independent Schools Festival in Pretoria. Photo: Justin Waldman Sports Photography<\/strong><\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Thursday, the annual Independent Schools Cricket Festival<\/strong> will mark the beginning of the end of the 2025\/26 schools’ cricket season. The festival features 20 teams, with 10 matches played each day across four days.<\/p>\n

\n

It also presents an important opportunity for valuable out\u2011of\u2011country exposure for the two Zimbabwean outfits, St John’s College<\/strong> and St George’s College<\/strong>, both based in Harare.<\/p>\n

Zimbabwe Cricket’s renewed rise, highlighted by qualification for the Super Eight in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup<\/strong>, can be traced in part to increased exposure for their feeder pathways.<\/p>\n

Days one to three will feature 50\u2011over matches. On the last day, the teams will enjoy the excitement of a shorter format, T20 cricket, which will serve as a dessert after the three\u2011course meal offered by the longer fixtures earlier in the festival.<\/p>\n

St Alban’s College<\/strong> is the primary host of the event, with the TC Mitchell<\/strong>, Baloyi<\/strong> and Murray Ovals<\/strong> hosting games on all four days.<\/p>\n

St Alban’s will play all of their matches on TC Mitchell Oval, beginning with an outing against St Andrew’s College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The University of Pretoria’s Oval and the Tuks B and C Fields will be used on Thursday and Friday.<\/p>\n

Tuks B will host one of the opening day’s headline attractions when St Stithians College<\/strong> squares off against Bishops Diocesan College<\/strong>. On the C Field, Nikhil Sukraj<\/strong>, of St Andrew’s School<\/strong>, will meet Jason Rowles<\/strong>, of St David’s Marist Inanda<\/strong>, with both players expected to be among the standout performers at the festival.<\/p>\n

Three fields at Cornwall Hill College<\/strong> will also serve as venues. The Cornwall Hill 1st XI will also enjoy home field advantage for their four matches, with their sternest test likely coming on day four when they face St Andrew’s School, the Central Region’s Switch Schools SA20 champions<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

With the University\u2019s fields unavailable over the weekend due to Titans Club League<\/strong> commitments, three fixtures will shift to Johannesburg on Saturday and Sunday. St Stithians College<\/strong> will benefit from home ground advantage as a result, hosting Michaelhouse<\/strong> on Saturday before they face St Andrew’s College<\/strong> on Sunday, on the Dlamini Oval<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Michaelhouse will be one of four big names from KwaZulu-Natal in action, with Hilton College<\/strong>, Kearsney College<\/strong> and Clifton College <\/strong>completing the quartet.<\/p>\n

With positive weather forecasts for the four\u2011day event, and with some of the nation’s finest talent from Gauteng, the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, the Free State, KwaZulu\u2011Natal, the Western Cape and neighbouring Zimbabwe converging on the Jacaranda City, the festival promises high\u2011quality, enthralling cricket.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

FIXTURES\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thursday,\u00a0 19 February\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

St Alban’s College vs St Andrew’s College – TC Mithell Oval
\nKingswood College vs Hilton College – Balyoi Oval
\nKearsney College vs St John’s College – Murray Oval
\nHelpemkaar Kollege vs Clifton – Tuks Oval
\nSt Stithians College vs Diocesan College – Tuks B
\nSt Andrew’s School vs St David’s Marist Inanda – Tuks C
\nPrestige College vs Uplands College – Gijima Oval
\nCornall Hill College vs St John’s College (Harare) – Van der Byl Oval
\nMichaelhouse vs Woodridge College – Parke de Terrace
\nSt Benedict’s College vs St George’s College (Harare) – Landsend Oval<\/p>\n

Friday, 20 February\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

St Alban’s College vs Diocesan College – TC Mitchell Oval
\nSt George’s College (Harare) vs Clifton – Baloyi Oval
\nSt Andrew’s School vs Michaelhouse – Murray Oval
\nSt David’s Marist Inanda vs St Andrew’s College – Tuks Oval
\nSt John’s College vs Hilton College – Tuks B
\nSt Benedict’s College vs Uplands College – Tuks C
\nPrestige College vs St George’s College (Harare) – Gijima Oval
\nCornwall Hill College vs Woodridge College – Van der Byl Oval
\nSt Stithians College vs Kearsney College – Parke de Terrace
\nHelpmekaar Kollege vs Kingswood College – Landsend Oval<\/p>\n

Saturday, 21 February<\/strong><\/p>\n

St Alban’s College vs Kingswood College – TC Mitchell Oval
\nHelpmekaar Kollege vs Kearsney College – Baloyi Oval
\nSt Andrew’s College vs Diocesan College – Murray Oval
\nSt John’s College vs St Andrew’s School – Mitchell Field
\nSt Stithians College vs Michaelhouse – Dlamini Oval
\nSt David’s Marist Inanda vs Hilton College – La Valla Oval
\nSt Benedict’s College vs Woodridge College – Temba Bavuma Oval
\nCornwall Hill College vs Clifton – Van der Byl Oval
\nUplands College vs St John’s College (Harare) – Parke de Terrace
\nPrestige College vs St George’s College (Harare) – Landsend Oval<\/p>\n

Sunday, 22 February (T20)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

St Alban’s College vs Hilton College – TC Mitchell Oval
\nKingswood College vs St George’s College (Harare) – Baloyi Oval
\nKearsney College vs St John’s College (Harare) – Murray Oval
\nSt John’s College vs Diocesan College – Mitchell Field
\nSt Stithians College vs St Andrew’s College – Dlamini Oval
\nSt David’s Marist Inanda vs Prestige College – La Valla Oval
\nSt Benedict’s College vs Michaelhouse – Temba Bavuma Oval
\nCornwall Hill College vs St Andrew’s School – Van der Byl Oval
\nUplands College vs Helpmekaar Kollege – Parke de Terrace
\nClifton vs Woodridge College – Landsend Oval<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, the annual Independent Schools Cricket Festival will mark the beginning of the end of the 2025\/26 schools’ cricket season. The festival features 20 teams, with 10 matches played each day across four days. It also presents an important opportunity for valuable out\u2011of\u2011country exposure for the two Zimbabwean outfits, St John’s College and St […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":90709,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90699","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\/90699","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=90699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/90709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}