After a thrilling finale against Selborne College last week for the privilege of representing the Warriors franchise, Kingswood have travelled the distance to play in the Coca-Cola T20 Schools Challenge National Finals.
After a thrilling finale against Selborne College last week for the privilege of representing the Warriors franchise, Kingswood have travelled the distance to play in the Coca-Cola T20 Schools Challenge National Finals.
The tournament is being held at the University of Pretoria (Tuks) High Performance Centre, starting today (Friday 14 March), and ending on Sunday.
Over 11 000 cricketers from 650 schools started on the journey to represent their respective franchise in the national finals over six months ago.
“The key to our success this season was the number of matches we played in preparation for the tournament,” said Kingswood first team coach, Gregg van Molendorff.
The Kingswood team comprises a talented group of players who tend to stick to a more measured game of cricket, evident especially in the style of batting shown in previous matches against Grey High School and Selborne.
Kingswood's approach to their games has been one where effective teamwork and camaraderie have been more important than the pursuit of individual publicity.
"The other five schools playing in the tournament for their franchise are Grey College (Knights), St Stithians (Lions), Waterkloof (Titans), Westville (Dolphins) and Wynberg (Cobras).
Van Molendorff said: “After each match we then analysed our game to look for problem areas and in this way we kept improving with every game we played.”
Van Molendorff also arranged a number of cricket festivals bringing in teams from the area.
“The Coca-Cola T20 Schools Challenge is an awesome tournament. It's very competitive and we are well prepared for the weekend. We just hope the weather holds out,” said Van Molendorff.
Van Molendorff is pleased with his team’s turn around this year.
“Last year we were knocked out early by St Andrew's College. This year we have made an incredible comeback to represent the Warriors.”
The Coca-Cola T20 Schools Challenge is about making heroes,” said Fetsi Mbele, Coca-Cola South Africa Marketing Assets Manager in a press statement.
Kingswood's first round-robin match is against the Titans franchise, which starts on Friday 14 March at 9.30am.
They then play the Cobras at 2pm.
Tomorrow they play the Knights in the morning and Lions in the afternoon.
Sunday sees the Kingswood team play the Dolphins in the last set of round-robin matches.
The 1st and 2nd placed teams play each other in a once-off final, which decides which of the franchises will be named as the 2014 Coca-Cola T20 Schools Challenge Champion.
Kingswood aren't the only ones who have been involved in exciting regional matches.
The 1st XI from Wynberg have been somewhat of the upset team in the race for the Western Province franchise.
In a match considered as being "Rondebosch's game from the start", Wynberg won by a devastating margin of seven wickets.
In a similarly poised match against Paul Roos Gymnasium, Wynberg won the match by four wickets.
Wynberg have thus far epitomised how the 20 over format of cricket can be somewhat unpredictable, especially if players come on form at the right time. You can cut this if you need to.
The Coca-Cola T20 Schools Challenge is a feeder to the Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Cricket Week, which in turn feeds the U19 national team.
The tournament can be considered as an important stepping stone for young talent hoping to be considered for professional level cricket.
