The Rhodes University Cricket Club held its first round of cricket trials for previously disadvantaged schools in Grahamstown, with about 40 youngsters taking part on the first day.
The Rhodes University Cricket Club held its first round of cricket trials for previously disadvantaged schools in Grahamstown, with about 40 youngsters taking part on the first day.
The pupils were separated into U14 and U17 sections. Rhodes cricket club development officer, Siqamo Laphu said the standard of cricket was very basic and “most of the kids had never been really coached before”.
Due to the club working with limited resources and only a few coaches, the club decided to focus only on the U17 pupils “for the development project to be effective and of us to be able to get to every kid".
From the original trials, 18 children were picked from Mary Waters Secondary School and Archie Mbolekwa Primary School.
The pupils have been to a number of practices with the Rhodes cricket club coaching team. Laphu said that while they have begun with very basic skills he believes the club will nurture the pupils into good players.
The project is currently in the final stages as far as the coaching is concerned, with 13 pupils taking part in the final week.
Laphu said they hope that officials from Eastern Province Cricket will attend one of the coaching sessions with the pupils. The cricket club also plan to hold cricket matches against other local schools for the development side.
Ruwayne Brooks of Mary Waters said the coaching clinics have helped him a lot and it was also exciting as they got to meet players from other schools.
Siphamandla Mfabana of Mary Waters said he felt great to be part of the coaching clinic and he learnt “so many skills”. Mfabana did not play cricket at school but got involved on hearing about the coaching clinics offered by the Rhodes cricket club.
Laphu said that while only two schools have taken part in the project, he encouraged school teachers to contact him if they have any talented cricketers “who can beef up the squad at this late stage”. For more information contact Siqamo on 083 8815 463.
