At Kallis Oval, T20 star Levi gets more trees planted
CAPETOWN: Located at the foot of the Table Mountain in a leafy suburb of the city, the Wynberg Boys’ High School is South Africa’s second oldest school but that is not why you are reading about it here. It is known as the school that produced South African allrounder Jacques Kallis.
Then a ‘small boy who used to caress the ball to the boundaries’, Kallis went on to become the legend he is and so naturally the school decided its rather scenic ground after him. And at the Jacques Kallis Oval, the school has a rather unusual way of keeping track of records. “A tree is planted for every hundred scored for school. Bowlers need to take seven wickets to get the same honour,” said Michael Engelbrecht, head of sport at the school since 2008, as he kept an eye on the home game against Noord Kaap.
Kallis has three trees with his name on a plaque and also a bench installed after he had scored a double century against India, in 2010, but guess who has the most number of trees to his name --Richard Levi. Levi plundered 13 sixes while scoring 117 against New Zealand in 2012 . It was the fastest T20 International ton back then. In school he was always rated as a big star, famously hitting sixes that crashed into neighbours’ compound after comfortably clearing the road that skirts the ground. “Kallis has three trees but Levi has around 13-14, I think. Of course, he was a destructive batsman but Levi also played more school matches than Kallis,” said Andrew Wylie, director of cricket at the school.
Levi went on to play provincial cricket before finally breaking into the Proteas side but by then there were reports of alleged indiscipline which many feel may have not allowed him to build a good career after the kind of headstart he had got. Wynberg though have more illustrious names in South African cricket. Allan Lamb, who went on to play for England, Garth Le Roux and Charl Willoughby are some of the many faces on the team photos here. Wynberg, with more national knockout trophies than any other Western Province school, has to deal with a busy schools cricket calendar. “We play a Cape cricket festival every January. Local league starts middle of January till March, again September till December,” said Engelbrecht. “We have no cricket during winter since that’s when rugby and football happen. Interestingly, Jacques visits for rugby more than cricket,” said Wylie.