After a successful season last year, the Border Indoor Cricket side has kicked off this year with five players selected to the SA side set to tour in East London this month.
Greg Davis, Dylan Robb, Heinrich Knoetze, Darryl Lockem and Dylan Griffin have all been selected to the national side based on their performances at last year’s men’s over 30s and over 40s interprovincial tournament.
All five have played for Border for a number of years.
Lockem said: “Having wonderful teammates around that push you and bring out the best in you goes a long way towards securing your selection to the side.
“I have played quite a few IPTS tournaments over the years so that definitely helps as you know what the expectation and standard is.”
Davis, who will be representing SA again this year, said: “To represent your country is a huge honour and a big blessing it itself.
“It is great to be back on the side and this time representing South Africa in East London will be amazing.”
Robb said: “It is an honour to be representing my country, however, I will still be pushing and working hard to be considered to play in a World Cup for SA.
“If that opportunity does not come my way, I will carry on helping from a coaching level as a way of giving back to the sport I am extremely passionate about.”
The players said aside from the upcoming tour, the most challenging aspect of playing for nationals would be having to adjust to a new set of teammates, however, they believed it would help strengthen the sport in the Border region.
Robb said: “A big challenge at Border level is that there is a very small percentage of youngsters taking part from a local point of view, meaning the local league, as it seems to clash with school sport.
“The youngsters are the future of the game and we as current players want to see that grow with the hopes of seeing more players being considered to play for our national teams.”
Griffins said: “Border has been out of action for almost 17 years and the fact that we have three players from Border over 40s and two players from Border over 30s selected to South Africa on an international level just shows that we are doing something right in bringing Border indoor back and that we definitely have tonnes of talent in East London.”
