Once a Bear, Always a Bear - Kevin Kerr

Kevin, thanks so much for joining us. Let’s start at the very start…what are your earliest memories of cricket?   

My family emigrated to South Africa from Scotland when I was two years old.  My dad had never really seen or played cricket as we were a football family - my uncle played professional football and my grandfather played semi-professional football. My first introduction to cricket was when I started primary school - Rembrandt Park in Johannesburg. In my first year there the headmaster (J Sinclair who had some MCC coaching experience) used to take all the boys from the grade into the school hall and teach us batting and bowling basics. Within a year or two we were practising in the outdoor nets and started playing school matches.  After school, most summer afternoons were spent playing ‘Test matches’ against the other kids at the entrance to the flats where we lived on the tar ‘pitch’ with a tennis ball.   The first big matches I watched were at the Wanderers where I remember Ali Bacher, Lee Irvine, Don Mackay-Coghill and Clive Rice playing for Transvaal.  One of the highlights was always to get on the field to play our own matches during the lunch and tea breaks.