Hornsey will see the return of Gareth Orr, their British Passport holding South African, for their 2024 Middlesex League campaign.
Orr is a British Passport holding run machine from South Africa currently living/working in the UK.
Prior to his relocation to England (Jan 2022), Orr was a key member of the Crusaders Cricket Club’s 50-over championship-winning campaign, and second-placed finish in the KwaZulu National Premier League T20 tournament (2021). He was a stand-out performer in the latter (in particular), finishing among the leading run-scorers and picking up 2 Man of the Match awards in the 5 games played.
During the same year, he was invited to join the Dolphins High Performance Centre by ex-Proteas all-rounder, Robbie Frylinck. Unfortunately, COVID struck jeopardizing this opportunity and the potential to play for the Colts Club XI.
A schoolboy star, Orr represented and skippered his College and Provincial sides. In 2007, he captained the likes of Daryn Dupavillion, Senuran Muthusamy (Proteas), and Kyle Simmonds (Cape Cobras) for KZN Coastal. In 2010, he toured the UK with the Maritzburg College 1st XI as a 16-year-old. He averaged over 50 during this tour, as the side went unbeaten in their 15-matches against England’s top schools. Over the next two years, he would go on to skipper KZN Inland U17s (2011), and Maritzburg College 1st XI (2012), skippering notable players including Dupavillion, Luke Schlemmer, Ben Compton (Kent/England Lions), and England star Tom Curran.
In 2020, during his final year of his BEng Electronic Engineering degree, Orr decided to return to cricket following a 7-year hiatus. The reason for the hiatus was to focus on achieving his undergraduate degree. In his first match back, he scored 133* and took 4 wickets. The next weekend he was promoted to the University of Pretoria’s Emerging Squad and averaged over 40 with the bat for the remainder of the season. Mental toughness is a trait that a lot of crickets lack and is a strong point of Orr’s game.
The British Passport holding South African then headed to the UK in 2022 and enjoyed a barnstorming maiden stint for Tonbridge Cricket Club in the Kent Cricket League (919 runs at 51.06). Courtesy of his exploits, and “locally qualified” status, played for Hornsey Cricket Club in the Middlesex County League last summer, where he continued to shine (491 runs at 28.29).
Given his success last summer, Horney were quick to re-sign their dual Passport holding batter for the 2024 season.
