The 31st Saints Squash Festival, hosted by St Andrew’s School, in Bloemfontein, over the weekend, showed that there is likely to be a new number-one squash-playing school in South Africa in 2025, with the Eastern Cape’s Grey High School and Selborne College set to battle it out for the top spot.
Both teams displayed strong depth and came away from their five ties with clean records. Selborne is also set to be further strengthened when two players, who are members of the first cricket side, are added to their line-up.
While Grey High and Selborne emerged as the top teams, Hoërskool Zwartkop, which had Luhann Groenewald, the top player in the country, at number one last year, rolled out a worthy replacement in Juan-Corné Brand. He was unbeaten in Bloemfontein.
Zwartkop, though, didn’t win any of their ties. Hold up a moment, though. Four of their five ended 3-3! Grey High beat the Pretoria school 5-1 in their other tie.
KZN’s Maritzburg College and Westville Boys’ High enjoyed strong showings, with College dropping only one match 2-4 to Selborne, which was the toughest outing the East Londoners had all festival long. College’s Bandile Mahaye and Veer Premchund, playing at three and four respectively, went unbeaten.
Westville, meanwhile, won three and drew two, beating St John’s College, King Edward VII (KES), and Pretoria Boys High, while going 3-3 against Zwartkop A and Grey College.
The host, St Andrew’s School, one of the traditional powers, is in a rebuilding year and fell to Grey High and Selborne. They drew with Zwartkop, and beat KES and Paarl Gimnasium.
The Western Cape side, in its first appearance at the festival, impressed. They gave Grey High their toughest examination, going down 2-4. In their other outings, they drew with Zwartkop, beat Michaelhouse A, and went down to Pretoria Boys High after an injury impacted their line-up.
The next big event on the squash calendar will draw on every squash court in Bloemfontein, with The Tecnifibre Bloem Junior Open, one of the largest squash events in the world, taking place from 27 February to 2 March. All of the country’s top juniors are likely to be in action.
In the u19 age group, Juan-Corné Brand appears to be the player to beat. Many of his toughest challengers were in action at the Saints Squash Festival, including Ruan Wessels (Paarl Gimnasium), Daniel Deutschmann (KES), Jodie Emslie (Selborne), and Benji Newman (Grey High).
RESULTS
Friday, 7 February
Round one
St Andrew’s School A (11) 3-3 (10) Hoërskool Zwartkop Hoërskool A
St Andrew’ Schools B (14) 4-2 (10) Hoërskool Zwartkop B
Selborne College (17) 5-1 (3) King Edward VII
Grey High (14) 4-2 (7) Paarl Gimnasium
Maritzburg College (15) 5-1 (8) Grey College
Kearsney College (6) 2-4 (12) Pretoria Boys High
Michaelhouse A (18) 6-0 (4) St Stithian’s College
Michaelhouse B (0) 0-6 (18) Graeme College
Kingswood College (18) 6-0 (0) Parktown Boys’ High
Queen’s College (17) 5-1 (5) Paul Roos Gimnasium
Westville Boys’ High (17) 5-1 (5) St John’s College A
Glenwood High 5-1 St John’s College B
Round two
St Andrew’s School A (5) 0-6 (18) Grey High
St Andrew’s School B (18) 6-0 (1) St John’s College B
Selborne College (16) 6-0 (3) St John’s College A
King Edward VII School (9) 2-4 (12) Westville Boys’ High
Kearsney College (11) 3-3 (9) St Stithian’s College
Kingswood College (16) 5-1 (5) Glenwood High
Paul Roos Gimnasium (5) 1-5 (15) Graeme College
Pretoria Boys High (10) 3-3 (12) Grey College
Hoërskool Zwartkop A (10) 3-3 (10) Maritzburg College
Hoërskool Zwartkop B (13) 4-2 (6) Michaelhouse B
Paarl Gimnasium (15) 5-1 (8) Michaelhouse A
Parktown Boys’ High (0) 0-6 (18) Queen’s College
Saturday, 8 February
Round three
St Andrew’s School A (16) 4-2 (9) Paarl Gimnasium
St Andrew’s School B (10) 2-4 (16) Michaelhouse B
Michaelhouse A (12) 4-2 (9) King Edward VII School
Hoërskool Zwartkop A (3) 1-5 (15) Grey High
Hoërskool Zwartkop B (18) 6-0 (3) Parktown Boys’ High
Pretoria Boys High (6) 1-5 (16) Westville Boys’ High
Selborne College (16) 4-2 (6) Maritzburg College
Kearsney College (17) 4-2 (12) Queen’s College
Glenwood High (8) 2-4 (12) Paul Roos Gimnasium
Kingswood College (5) 1-5 (15) St John’s College A
Graeme College (18) 6-0 (0) St John’s College B
Grey College (18) 6-0 (3) St Stithian’s College
Round four
St Andrew’s School (14) 4-2 (6) King Edward VII
St Andrew’s School B (17) 5-1 (6) Parktown Boys’ High
Maritzburg College (15) 5-1 (6) St John’s College A
Queen’s College (18) 6-0 (2) St John’s College B
Grey College (18) 6-0 (2) Kearsney College
Michaelhouse A (2) 0-6 (18) Grey High
Michaelhouse B (18) 6-0 (2) Paul Roos Gimnasium
Selborne College (18) 6-0 (1) St Stithian’s College
Hoërskool Zwartkop A (9) 3-3 (11) Westville Boys’ High
Hoërskool Zwartkop B (4) 1-5 (15) Kingswood College
Paarl Gimnasium (10) 2-4 (13) Pretoria Boys High
Graeme College (15) 5-1 (5) Glenwood High
Sunday, 9 February
Round five
St Andrew’s School A (8) 1-5 (17) Selborne College
St Andrew’s School B (1) 0-6 (18) Queen’s College
St John’s College A (7) 2-4 (13) Michaelhouse A
St John’s College B (1) 0-6 (18) Michaelhouse B
Maritzburg College (13) 4-2 (7) King Edward VII School
Parktown Boys’ High (2) 0-6 (18) Glenwood High
Grey College (12) 3-3 (12) Westville Boys’ High
Grey High (18) 6-0 (4) Pretoria Boys High
Hoërskool Zwartkop A (16) 5-1 (17) Paarl Gimnasium
Hoërskool Zwartkop B (7) 2-4 (13) Paul Roos Gimnasium
St Stithian’s College (9) 3-3 (9) Kingswood College
Kearsney College (8) 2-4 (14) Graeme College
Brad Morgan
ssschoolsplus.co.za
