The Rhodes University Cricket Club has announced their 14-man squad that will be travelling to Johannesburg to compete in the University Sports South Africa A Week cricket tournament where they will contest the B Section.
The side was relegated from the B Section in 2017 as the club hit an all-time low, however, since then, the club has come full circle as they achieved immediate promotion in 2018 and will be looking to try and surprise a few big teams. 
David Blenkinsop will lead the team on the field after taking the reins from Sean McQuillan earlier in the season. The second-year all-rounder finished the first half of the Grahamstown Cricket Board season with 12 wickets and 125 runs in the first month and the former Khaya Majola Coca Cola week player will be hoping he can take that form with him to the highveld.
Second in command will be Nicholas Zimmerman who starred with the bat in the club’s promotion tournament last year where he averaged over 50. He has a strong history of age group Eastern Province representation having played with the likes of Matthew Breetzke and Lutho Sipamla.
Other players to watch include former provincial age-group players Lelethu Cekiso (Eastern Province), Njabulo Shabalala (Eastern Gauteng) and Brian Ngugi (Mpumalanga) who will all be looking to do their part with the ball.
There will only be four members of the squad who will be playing their first USSA tournament which includes in form Rhodes Second XI Daniel Berndt who scored a total of 264 runs across three matches this season.
On the management side, Stephen Pettitt will head up the side as the team director while Bokang Raselomane will act as the assistant coach.
Pettitt was the manager in charge when the team achieved promotion to the A Week in 2018 and has just begun his third tenure as the chairperson of the club.
The side departs for Johannesburg after the university’s examination period on the 29 November and their first match will be on Monday 2 December with fixtures still to be finalized.
Full Squad: Daniel Berndt, David Blenkinsop (C), Lelethu Cekiso, Aiden du Toit, Ryan Harley, Sean McQuillan, Matthew Menear, Brian Ngugi, Njabulo Shabalala, Lukhanyo Tshongweni, Bradley van Heerden, Simon Webster, Timothy Westwood, Nicholas Zimmerman (VC).
