The very best of Grey High showed tremendous determination with huge comebacks on the rugby and cricket fields in Pretoria this past weekend.
Grey played in two Plate Finals at two prestigious tournaments, producing wonderful performances along the way.
Unfortunately, the Gqeberha School was at the wrong end of the results in both finals.
On Sunday the cricketers clashed with St Stithians in the u/19 Plate Final of the North-South T20 tournament.
This was a day after the rugby boys played in a thrilling Plate Final for the Frogfoot 7s for u/17 teams.
It was a tough start to the T20 tournament. Menlopark dominated the first match and beat Grey by 10 wickets.
Grey could only manage 70/8 and Menlopark reached the winning target without losing a wicket.
Things did not go much better in the second match. Grey made 185/7, with Jean Upman scoring 69, but SACS batted very well to win by 7 wickets.
Then the fightback started, with Grey winning three nailbiters in a row to book a place in the Plate Final.
Things started to turn around, with a single-wicket victory over St Andrews College. Xander Nutt bowled nicely, taking 3/27, and St Andrews was restricted to 173/9. With only the last man standing, Grey reached 174. The innings of 49 by Kian Cambier was crucial to secure the victory.
Nutt was at it again against Westville Boys High, this time taking 4/30. Westville made 150/9 and it was a challenging run chase for Grey to get to the winning target.
Zander Elkington timed the chase to perfection. He grew in confidence in an unbeaten knock of 44 runs.
There were only two balls left when Grey reached 153/5 to take victory by five wickets.
It was a solid batting performance against Wynberg High when Grey put 221/3 on the scoreboard.
Cambier led the way with an unbeaten innings of 74 runs. Upman (65) and Corby van Heerden (54) made valuable contributions.
In the end, Wynberg was closing in fast on the winning target but Grey controlled the situation to win by nine runs.
In the Plate Final, Cambier top scored with 43 runs before he was run out. Grey posted 159/7 but St Stithians got to 163/2 to win by eight wickets.
At the 7s Tournament, Grey started with victories over HTS Tom Naude and HTS Ligbron.
Things got much tougher in the next match. After a gruelling first half, HTS Drostdy was leading 7–5 but went on to win 22–10.
The result meant Grey had to take on Pietersburg High in the Plate Final. Pietersburg stunned Grey in the first half and was leading 19–0 at the break.
What a fightback by Grey in the second stint! They scored 12 points to get within a converted try to level the scores, and it was only in the last seconds that Pietersburg made sure of victory – the final score being 26–12.
