Exams are on the go, but the top school cricketers in Nelson Mandela Bay can be forgiven if their thoughts are elsewhere.
Next month the various age group national weeks of Cricket South Africa will take place around the country, and the Bay stars will represent Eastern Province with pride.
Hard work was done behind the scenes to make sure the EP sides are ready to take on the best in the country.
The recent welcome rains in the Bay did make things more difficult for the EP selectors to finalise their respective squads this year.
Many matches were washed out, and this also meant the players lost valuable time out in the middle.
What will be an advantage for the EP players is that the province will host the prestigious u/19 Khaya Majola Week next month.
Matches will be played from December 15 to 20 at various venues in Makhanda. The conditions at many of these fields will be well-known to the EP players who put bat to ball there for their respective schools.
Some matches will be played at clubs but Graeme College, as part of their 150th celebrations, will be the headquarters of the week.
St Andrews College and Kingswood College will also host many matches of the 16 provincial teams, and the EP boys can rely on some solid home support.
The u/19 Week will be an economic boost, not only for Makanda but also for Nelson Mandela Bay, when many parents and supporters from all the teams will descend on the Eastern Cape.
It is fitting that the u/19 Week returns to the Eastern Cape, as Majola was a son of New Brighton in Gqeberha. He played a leading role in the transformation of South African cricket in various capacities. He passed away in 2000, but his legacy continues with the u/19 Week.
With the school year coming to an end, the cricketers are starting to put away their bats, but there was a very exciting finish in Makhanda recently.
Grey High travelled from Gqeberha to take on Kingswood College in a 35-over match, and what a thriller it was.
Kingswood scored 180/7 and a team effort with the bat very nearly did the trick for Grey. Grey managed 177/7, beaten by a mere three runs.
Michael Molenaar (40), Marco Giaconi (38), Jean Upman (31) and Joel Maree (20*) did very well with the bat.
It was a much more one-sided affair for another Gqeberha school when Pearson beat Brandwag (Kariega) by ten wickets in a T20 match.
Brandwag struggled against the bowling of Nikolai Hector (5/15) and Cayden Wilson (4/3). An aggressive Jayden Groenewald led the small run chase to secure an emphatic victory by 10 wickets.
