Two former SA Schools’ captains make their test debut against Windies

Two players, Tony de Zorzi (King Edward VII) and Gerald Coetzee (St Andrew’s School) made their test debuts for the Proteas during the first test against the West Indies at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

De Zorzi continues KES’ impressive cricketing pipeline which produced South African test cricketers like Graeme Smith, Quinton de Kock, Stephan Cook, Neil McKenzie, Ali Bacher, Adam Bacher and Dane Vilas.

De Zorzi captained the SA Schools’ side back in 2015, while also leading the national u19-side in his career. Coetzee is also a former SA Schools’ captain as he led the side in 2018.

Coetzee is Saints in Bloemfontein’s first South African test cricketer since Peter Carlstein who represented the national side between 1958 and 1964. The last test player before Coetzee, who represented Saints, is however former England captain Joe Root.

Root played for Saints in 2009 as part of an exchange program between the school and Yorkshire Cricket Club.

The duo, De Zorzi and Coetzee, is the first new caps that Shukri Conrad handed out as Protea coach as he starts his career in this new role. Conrad is a seasoned coached who had success at franchise level with the Lions as well as the Cape Cobras.

Conrad himself represetend the national schools’ side of 1984 which was captained by Darryl Cullinan (Queen’s College). That year’s SA Schools’ team included players like Alan Donald (HTS Bloemfontein), Clive Eksteen (Northcliff) and Meyrick Pringle (Kingswood College).

Conrad made the Western Province side from the Avendale Cricket Club.

The test against the Windies that started today also saw a new Protea test captain in Temba Bavuma. He is an old-boy of St David’s Marist in Inanda, Johannesburg.