Graeme cricket honours iconic sportsman
Graeme College was able to honour one of its most legendary sportsmen when the company started by the late Cuan King — King Construction, Civils & Lawn — became the cricket team’s sponsor as the Makhanda school approaches its 150th anniversary next year.
Sharing an incredibly special experience with the team at a season-opening function was the inspirational story of a player who made a remarkable impact on Graeme College some 50 years ago.
King was one of the finest sportsmen to have attended Graeme College.
His prowess on the cricket pitch and rugby field is legendary, but the mark of his character is even more powerful and inspirational.
Originally a farmer from the Salem area, King, who captained the first rugby team in 1972 and was also an outstanding fast bowler, started the construction business in 1992 and was joined by his son Leard in 2010.
Sadly, Cuan passed away in 2018 after a battle with cancer and since then the Graeme first team and Stanley Cricket Club have renamed the man-of-thematch award in their annual fixture the Cuan King Award.
King bowled 1,100 overs for the Graeme College first team, taking 247 wickets at an average of 9,8.
He played for the SA Schools team in 1972 and went on to become a highly respected cricketer in Eastern Province.
But those who knew him well will tell you those statistics don’t even for a second reflect who he was as a member of a team at the Salem Cricket Club or his family.
King’s wife, Charmaine, who has made an equally huge contribution to the Salem community, joined his matric class this year as a special guest at their 50th reunion.
Graeme deputy headmaster Gregg van Mollendorff recognised their contribution at the opening function.
“It was absolutely incredible to have Charmaine, Leard and Zinta King (Leard’s wife) join us as we celebrated cricket at Graeme, which is a partnership created in the most remarkable circumstances,” he said.
“It is an exciting time for Graeme College cricket.
“We would like to thank King Construction, Civils & Lawn, and obviously thank the great family behind the company for their support of Graeme College cricket.
“We are so incredibly proud to have their name on our cricket kit.”
The first team got to wear their new kit for the first time on Saturday and did their sponsors proud against Woodridge College.
After losing the toss, Graeme survived a challenging early morning session and then managed to lay a solid platform.
Mornay Kohl (58) showed his massive value to the team.
His experience was needed as he put on 114 runs with Murray Tyson for the third wicket.
Tyson fell agonisingly just short of his century, scoring a superb 97.
That allowed the rest of the Graeme batsmen to play with freedom and Ethan Beyleveld ended the innings by scoring 42 runs off 21 balls, propelling Graeme to a daunting 325/6 in their 50 overs.
The Woodridge opening pair were the pick of the bowlers, with Bukho Pantsi (2/79) and Waydon Bopp (3/43) claiming the majority of the wickets.
Woodridge got off to a good start after the Graeme seamers had initially applied some pressure.
Young Marcus Williams was good value, picking up 4/36, while James Beckley was outstanding for Woodridge, scoring a sublime half-century with support from Josh Botha and Dimitri Alexandris.
The Graeme bowlers lost some consistency which allowed the Woodridge batsmen to create partnerships, but after drinks they were able to exert pressure again.
Mu’eed Fritz picked up 2/12 and Tyson completed a good allround performance with 2/36. Kevin Geldenhuys kept the brakes on the scoring by conceding only 19 runs in six overs as Woodridge were bowled out for 153.