Alers is class act at Majola Week

Hudson Park’s Mr Chips is passionate about young talent for more than two decades.

THE Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Cricket Week has always depended on passionate school teachers who have been prepared to give up the week before Christmas, year after year, to create the opportunity for the cream of our U19 cricketing talent to show what they can do.

And you’ll have to go a long way to find a cricket man more passionate, or one who has created more of those opportunities, than Dave Alers, deputy principal of East London’s Hudson Park High School, and manager of the Border Schools team that is playing at this year’s week in Durban.

This is Alers’ 11th consecutive week as a team official, and his 20th in total. His first was in Johannesburg in 1989, when he was the assistant manager of the Border team and he has missed out on the odd occasion, but otherwise he has been pretty much a permanent fixture at the elite schools cricket festival ever since.

Alers was no mean cricketer himself. He played in four of these weeks – from 1972 to 1975, representing the then Rhodesia, making the SA Schools team in his final year. He then went on to play first-class cricket for Rhodesia, Eastern Province and Border, as an opening bowler. He also played for the SA Universities team in 1977 and 1978.

After qualifying as a teacher at Rhodes University he was appointed as a teacher at East London’s Cambridge High School in 1982, and started coaching the first cricket team there in 1985. He then moved to Hudson Park, where he also took the first team and, nearly 30 years on, he is still coaching.

He has seen a lot over the years and, for him, the biggest event has been the birth of the new South Africa.

“In those early years this was the Nuffield Week – an all-white affair, with all that that implies. The unification of cricket led, in the Border region especially, to exposure for some amazing talents, and coaching them over the years has been a highlight for me,” he said.

Pressed to single out one special year, Alers said it would have to be 1994 – the last time the week was at Kearsney College. “It was a special year because it was the first unified week, and the Border team that year had in its ranks two players who were to become giants of South African cricket – Mark Boucher and Makhaya Ntini.

“I would hesitate to say that standards have dropped these days – they haven’t – but we don’t see players of their stature very often these days.”

As far as changes down the years are concerned, he believes the biggest one has been a greater emphasis on winning these days.

“In my early years we only played declaration cricket, with a two-day game day in some of the weeks. Draws were common in those days and it was more about performances than results,” he said.

“T20 cricket hadn’t been invented and limited-overs cricket was frowned on.”

With the introduction of the new formats, results became possible and this changed the way players approach the game. “It’s been a good thing and I think players have benefitted from having to apply different strategies.”

Alers is excited by the prospects of SA U19 bowler Ngazibini Sigwili, who is from his school and in the Border team this year. “He is the second SA Schools player Hudson Park has produced,” he said. “In 2007 we had Cebo Tshiki, also fast bowler, in the team.”

As for the future, Alers is hesitant to commit himself to another Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Week next year. “My wife has been amazingly tolerant of me being away at this time of the year, every year,” he said, “but she may run out of patience eventually.” — DDC

All not going to plan for Border

THE Border U19 team found themselves in a spot of bother as they drew their second consecutive match at the ongoing Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Week.

For the second day in a row, their top-order crumbled before a lower order fightback led them to a draw – finishing on 84/7 as bad light called a stop to the day’s play 17 overs from the end.

In Border’s second cricket match of the festival, they found themselves chasing Boland’s first innings target of 227 all out.

Schoeman Botha then proceeded to rip out Border’s top-order by taking three of the top four to leave them hanging at 20/4.

A second collapse saw a promising middle-order recovery snuffed out as they fell from 41/4 to 42/7.

A brilliant fighting, unbeaten 42run partnership between Cheslyn Neethling (34no) and Atholston Tobias (7no) led Border to the safety of a draw when play was called off for bad light late in the day.

Earlier in the day Border bowled out Boland for 227 thanks to good bowling from Border’s strike bowler Ngazibini Sigwili who cleaned up the tail to register tidy figures of 4/28 off 13.5 overs. He was ably supported by captain Ryelan Hardnick and Tim Niemand who picked up two scalps each. The remaining wickets came from Aphiwe Elembi and Diego Jasson.

The Coke Week opened with a bang on Monday as bowlers dominated the first phase of matches as they claimed 151 wickets out of 320 that were up for grabs on the first day of cricketing action.

The Border team was boosted by two top draw performances, one with the bat and the other with the ball from two of their senior players from Hudson Park High School – Aubrey Ferraira and Niemand.

Northerns batted first and a brilliant bowling display from Niemand, who claimed the second best bowling figures of the entire day with 5/50, restricted Northerns to a decent 194 all out.

Border managed to way to 107/6 in reply.

By the time play was called for the day and the match drawn, Ferreira had top-scored with 54 while Selborne College youngster Morgan Steyn scored 24no in support.

“The bowlers bowled brilliantly,” said Booi.