The facts behind SA20's biggest talent pipeline... Waterkloof

Looking across the 80-odd SA20 Season 4 players who completed high school in South Africa, one school stands out… Hoërskool Waterkloof.

Those who are ‘Klofie-trots’ were able to cheer on six alumni during the campaign, more than any other high school in the country, to reiterate how productive the cricket programme at Waterkloof is.

Jordan Hermann, captain of the 2019 Waterkloof 1st XI, hit the cricket headlines recently by equalling a world record with his 150 on ODI debut against Namibia. This on the back of an SA20 campaign where he claimed the Rising Star award while helping Sunrisers Eastern Cape to their third title (out of four). His elder brother Rubin, Class of 2015, has also used SA20 (via Paarl Royals) as the platform to rise to the Proteas from – becoming a regular in the T20I squad over the last year.

Hardus Viljoen, a teammate of Rubin’s at Paarl Royals, may be 37 now and 10 years on from his brief spell in the Proteas set-up but continues to trouble batters with his fast bowling. Following Viljoen's trade are Gideon Peters (Matric 2017) and Tristan Luus (Matric 2023), Pretoria Capitals and MI Cape Town’s tearaways. Finally, Durban’s Super Giants has Evan Jones, Class of 2014, among their ranks with the all-action allrounder always a reliable performer for any team he plays in.

“There’s a lot of culture behind the cricket at Waterkloof. Although it’s known as a rugby school we’ve done some special things over the last 10 to 15 years in the cricketing environment – Waterkloof is a very special cricket school,” said Jones at the launch of the rain SA20 Derby Series.

Supplementing that sextet are five further international cricketers of the last two decades.

The most high-profile, arguably, is Roelof van der Merwe (Class of 2002) who played 26 white-ball internationals for South Africa before switching allegiances to the Netherlands who still plays for, aged 41. Pieter Malan, a 2007 matriculant, opened the batting for the Proteas in three Tests against England in 2010 while his younger brother Janneman (Matric 2014) has featured in 34 white-ball internationals. Alexander Busing-Volschenk, meanwhile, has been playing for Namibia since 2024, the year after he left Waterkloof.

DID YOU KNOW? All of Jordan Hermann, Evan Jones, Tristan Luus and Roelof van der Merwe played in the Old Boys XI against their alma mater’s 1st XI in August

The women's game has its own Waterkloof star, too. Nadine de Klerk, the Proteas Women all-rounder and one of the side's most reliable performers with bat and ball, is also an ou-Klofie.

Much of the recent talents has run through one man. Cobus Pienaar, Waterkloof's Director of Cricket and 1st XI coach, is an old boy himself - he earned SA Schools colours in 2003 before a decade-long professional career turning out for Northerns, the Titans and Easterns. Having lived the pathway he now coaches, it is little wonder the school's cricket has continued to punch well above its rugby-town weight.