Connor capped by his cricket hero

EXCITEMENT was the order of the day for talented local cricket all-rounder, Connor High, as he recently got to meet his cricket hero, Kevin Pietersen, at the Kingsmead Mynah's u/17 capping ceremony.

Connor, who recently celebrated his 17th birthday, was among the team of inland players selected by Mynahs to showcase their talents in a series of five matches against a Mynahs Old Boys Invitational side, a team from Futura Academy and a Coastal u/17 team.

The selected players were those who missed out at SA schools level and included players from Maritzburg College, Westville, Glenwood, Northwood, Clifton and Umlazi Comtech.

Representing Vryheid, Connor "proved himself and had an awesome experience doing so…" beamed proud father, Gary High, an avid cricketer himself and undoubtedly a huge part of the driving force behind his son's passion for the sport, motivating and supporting Connor from a young age to follow his dreams.

Both Gary and Connor High were blown away by the professionalism of the team, management and coaching.

"It was a completely different level of cricket and we played at some awesome venues: PMB oval, Eston Cricket club and Westville Boys' High… It was an absolute honour to meet and be capped by Kevin Pietersen."

The Pietermaritzburg-born Kevin Pietersen is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who made his first-class debut for Natal in 1997 before moving to England in 2000. According to Wikipedia, Pietersen became the fastest batsman to reach both 1 000 and 2 000 runs in One Day International cricket. He has the second-highest run total from his first 25 Tests, behind only Sir Don Bradman of Australia, and was the fastest player, in terms of days, to reach 4,000, 5,000 and 7,000 Test runs.

"Connor would like to thank the following people for making this a reality: The Petersen family, Gavin Minnot, Lily's Cottage, Hendrik Marais, Kia Motors, Haydn Hughes, Elaine Rodway from the Vryheid Herald, PJ du Toit and Cameron Boock."

Former Mynah's president, Colin Chater, is quoted as saying, "I don't think those in charge of the game in SA realise what rich crops of players we have and how quickly we are losing them."