PBHSOB ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

Dear Old Boy

Simon Ross Harmer was born in Pretoria on 10 February 1989. He attended Glenstantia Primary School from Grade 1 to 6 before moving to Brooklyn Primary School for his Grade 7 year. Primary school cricket was always a big thing for Simon as he represented Northerns at all junior age groups.

On finishing primary school he attended Pretoria Boys High School. Despite being young for his grade, Simon was never perturbed by this and represented the A sides from Under 14 to Under 16 level. He was then selected to play for the 1st XI under Mr Mornay van Zyl where he established himself as a middle order batsman, off spinner and a serious slip fielder.

Simon’s matric year (2006) which included (now fellow professionals) Christopher Morris (Lions) and Graeme van Buuren (Titans), was a big one for him. He picked up his first 1st XI century (against Krugersdorp High School) as well as a few five wicket hauls- notably 6 wickets against Grey PE at their 150 Year Anniversary festival on their main oval, when PBHS seemed dead and buried. Simon manage to pick up 6 wickets in the space of 5 overs and turned the game on its head, helping PBHS to finish as the only undefeated side at the festival, which included the likes of Grey High School (Port Elizabeth), Grey College (Bloemfontein), KES, Wynberg Boys High School, Affies and more. Simon finished his matric year by representing the
Northerns Under 17 team in December 2006.

1st XI CRICKET PLAYER PROFILES: SIMON HARMER
“An excellent slip fielder and catcher of the ball, who has also contributed successfully with the bat. He is an off spinner who gets good bounce and turn, making it very difficult for batsmen to score runs.” Full Colours
(The Pretorian 2005)

Once finishing high school, he joined the Sports School of Excellence which was run from Pretoria High School Old Boys Club where he was coached by Mark Charlton (current Northerns Amateur coach) and Chris Cardoso (current PHSOB 1st XI coach & Northerns 2nd tier coach). Simon spent two years at the Sports School of Excellence and also played Premier League cricket for the PHSOB 1st XI where he played alongside other Old Boys such as Maurice Aronstam and Nick van Woerkom, who both
played cricket at a senior provincial level.

In 2008, Simon then made the choice to move across country to NMMU (Port Elizabeth) where he attended the Eastern Province Cricket Academy and would be hands on with Shafiek Abrahams (former Proteas spin bowler). This seemed to be a good decision on his part as a year after moving to Port Elizabeth, Simon made his first class debut for Eastern Province against Griqualand West and he could not have dreamed of a better debut, picking up 5-111 in the first innings and 6 wickets in the match, helping Eastern Province to an 8 wicket victory.

After that, first class cricket seemed to go really well for Simon and he was deservedly called up to the Chevrolet Warriors side to make his 4-day debut in the 2010-2011 first class season against the Cape Cobras claiming 5-98 in the first innings and 1-53 in the second innings to go along with his 46 and 69* runs with the bat.

The 2010-2011 season did not end there for Simon – he was also named Student Cricketer of the year at the Cricket South Africa Awards and was selected as the Captain of the South African Universities side for that year. Simon became a regular fixture in the Warriors side in the 2011-2012 season, ending the season as leading wicket taker in his full rookie season, claiming 44 wickets.

Having been in the Warriors side for four years, finishing top of the domestic 4-day bowling rankings for two of the previous three seasons and second in the third season and having had a few good series with both bat and ball for the South Africa ‘A’ side against a very strong Australia ‘A’ and India ‘A’ respectively, Simon was called up to the 13-man Proteas Squad for the 3rd Test against the West Indies in Cape Town.

On the morning of 2 January, Simon officially made his test debut and took his debut test wicket by bowling Devon Smith in the last over before the lunch break on day one, and ended the innings with figures of 26-5-71-3.

Being there to witness his debut was an amazing experience and it was not long before everyone in the line for beer was talking about Simon Harmer or the “Meerkat” (referring to his haircut). Simon finished the test with match figures of 50-12-153-7, which is remarkable, especially on debut.

Pretoria Boys High School Old Boys can be very proud of Simon and look forward to him playing many more games for our country!

We all wish him our best wishes and will make sure to support him every step of the way.

Daniel Brits (2006 – TOW)

PRETORIA BOYS HIGH SCHOOL FIXTURES & EVENTS

Friday 6 February
Tennis JHB Schools League | Squash: St Andrews Festival (6th – 8th February) | Cricket: Grey College Exchange | Swimming: Westville Invitational Gala
Saturday 7 February
Cricket, Water Polo & Basketball vs St Albans (Home) | Swimming: Alan Burt 10 Schools Gala (Glenwood, KZN) | Athletics: AGN League 3
Friday 13 February
Athletics: Top 10 Bloemfontein | Tennis: Johannesburg Schools League
Saturday 14 February
Cricket: Grey College Cricket Exchange | Water Polo vs St Benedicts | Athletics: Top 10 Bloemfontein | Athletics: D4 Championships

STAY UPDATED WITH NEWS

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DESMOND ABERNETHY HALL UPDATE

Building Report: Week ending 23 January 2015
A floor above the stage area (which will create a new music rehearsal room) is currently being constructed with the lintels being inserted as the first stage of construction. Some remaining demolition work on reinforced concrete structures is currently being completed.

A week with no rain has facilitated the levelling of the soil base in both quads and drainage pipes for the retaining wall in Hendry Quad are being inserted in preparation for soil infill behind this wall.

Reinforcing steel bars are being assembled for the structures at either end of the retaining walls in the two quads and building and plastering of the walls within the steel framework of the two new wings is almost complete.

Building Report: Week ending 30 January 2015
Construction of the basic structure for the floor above the stage area is now complete. Plastering of the walls and pillars on either side of the hall (excluding the extension wings) is now underway.

Scaffolding is being erected in the east and west wings in preparation for the casting of the upper storey slabs (seating and staircases). The staircase to the west of the hall gallery has been sealed off so as to allow bricking up of two windows on the stairwell and a door at the base of the stairwell that are not required in the new hall layout.

The entrance to the hall from the foyer has also been sealed with hoarding while the original wooden doors are refurbished. Soil is being inserted behind the retaining wall in the Hendry Quad.

THE RISSIK HOUSE MOB

Most boys will agree that life in a boarding-house is great fun. Life in our Houses is so different from the life led by a day-scholar. Borders often have methods of doing things, which to the uninformed outsider may seem to border on barbarism; it must be admitted however, that they get things done efficiently.

Yesterday I saw a number of small boys carrying rifles from the armoury to Rissik House. Behind them walked Chiappini, with a huge chain in his one hand shouting to the “new-pots” (as he called them), to buck up, as if he were a slave-driver.

On asking a nearby boarder why they did not abolish slavery in the Houses he replied most charmingly: “Chiappini is not using the chain to drive the ‘porters’, he is merely going to use it to lock up the rifles; and, besides, he
isn’t driving them, he is merely encouraging them to walk a little faster.”

J P Smith – The Pretorian 1955

UPCOMING OLD BOY EVENTS

20 May 2015
PBHSOB ASSOCIATION AGM
22 May 2015
60 YEAR ON 2015
5 June 2015
ANNUAL OLD BOYS’ GOLF DAY
6 June 2015
ANNUAL OLD BOYS’ DINNER

2015, Newsletters

Issue 4 2015 – 5 February 2015