Boland’s Riley Norton recently achieved the rare feat of being named in the South Africa Schools cricket and rugby squads.
The SA Schools teams are selected following the conclusion of the respective national sports weeks. The SA Schools teams represent a selection of players who performed well during their respective tournaments.
Norton becomes only the 3rd sportsman in the past decade to do the double of SA Schools rugby and cricket, alongside Ruan de Swardt of Affies (2016) and Christopher Schreuder of Grey College (2017).
The 17-year-old Paul Roos Gym schoolboy will still be eligible to achieve the same feat in 2024.
Overall, he became the 15th sportsman to do the rugby and cricket double. He is the first schoolboy from Paul Roos Gym to do the double. Grey College lead the way with 5 representatives.
Ruan de Swardt is currently playing for the North West Dragons in South African domestic cricket for the 2023-24 season. Christopher Schreuder was involved with the Western Province rugby team in the 2022 Currie Cup.
In the group of 15 to do the SA Schools double, only four managed full international colours as well. Conrad Jantjes and Helgard Muller played international rugby for the Springboks, while Herschelle Gibbs and Errol Stewart played international cricket for the Proteas.
Six South Africans have managed dual international representation. Biddy Anderson, Tony Harris, Albert Powell, Alfred Richards, Jimmy Sinclair and Percy Twentyman-Jones represented both the national cricket and rugby teams.
The talented sportsman describes himself as part of a “big sports family” which loves all South African sports, with cricket and rugby being the main two. He plays as a loose forward in rugby and a bowling allrounder in cricket.
The right-arm fast bowler and left-handed batter has been included in the South African ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2024 squad which is scheduled to host the tournament between 19 January and 11 February 2024.
Jason Harrison