Cricket South Africa (CSA) celebrates 35 years of one of the country’s most famous and prestigious sporting development programmes in the 2017/18 season – Mini-Cricket.
An estimated 180 delegates assembled at the Champagne Sport Resort in the Central Drakensberg for the annual KFC Mini-Cricket national seminar from 3 to 5 July ahead of the celebratory season.
KFC has been the driver of the initiative for the past seven years after taking over from biscuit brand, Bakers.
“This year will be another year to rejoice as we look forward to the seventh year of a distinguished partnership with KFC,” CSA chief executive officer Haroon Lorgat said.
“A 42 percent rise in the number of children participating, a 56 percent rise in the number of volunteer coaches and, importantly, a 74 percent growth in the number of schools involved makes us very proud indeed.
“It is also worth celebrating that 12 of the 15 members of our ICC U/19 World Cup winning team in 2014 came through this programme.”
Launched during the 1982-83 cricket season to encourage the growth and development of cricket amongst boys and girls, Mini-Cricket has grown in leaps and bounds over the years giving children from all walks of life the opportunity of being exposed to the game.
Over 2.5 million kids have participated in this programme, which has been instrumental in producing players for the various national teams – South Africa U/19, Momentum Proteas, South Africa ‘A’ and the Standard Bank Proteas.
“I really feel that the KFC Mini-Cricket programme is one of the best and most heart-warming projects that can be seen anywhere in the world,” Lorgat added. “It shows in the growth and in the opportunities provided to young children who take part as ball boys or girls when their Protea heroes are playing, or as participants at the coin toss of the KFC T20 International matches or the CSA T20 Challenge matches.”
