KAZIMLA MFIKILI
Acting Border Cricket president Wezile Mgculo hopes East London can become the permanent host of the provincial and regional leg of the Schools SA20 tournament after a successful stint as inaugural host city this past weekend.
The Schools SA20 tournament, launched by SA20 and Cricket South Africa (CSA) last year, aims to discover and nurture cricket talent among boys and girls nationwide, promoting equal opportunities in the sport.
The tournament, which started in September 2024 and concludes in March 2025, reflects SA20’s broader mission to provide young cricketers with pathways to excel in the sport.
Mgculo believes that making East London the permanent host will foster the growth of cricket local and especially at rural schools within the Border region.
“There is immense cricketing talent in the Border area, but many players are forced to leave for better opportunities and development in other provinces.”
January 17-19 saw boys’ and girls’ teams from schools in the region and province take to the pitch at Buffalo Park and local school fields. Selborne College’s boys and Stirling High School’s girls represented East London.
Despite a competitive showing, Selborne was knocked out in the semifinals by a formidable Pearson High School for four wickets and Stirling High’s girls faced a shock defeat at the hands of rural Transkei school, Nomandi Junior Secondary School as the Port St Johns outfit won by 105 runs. Sikho Ketho was the top scoring batter for her team with 39 runs as Nomandi hit a total of 138/5 after 20 overs. Stirling were all out for 33.
The boys’ finals were played at Buffalo Park on Sunday and saw Pearson High triumph over Grey High School by 29 runs.
Pearson will join fellow regional and provincial victors at the finals of the competition in Johannesburg in March.
Border Cricket Schools co-ordinator, Mawande Joko believes it is important for East London to continue to play host to this tournament because it will position the city as an important node in the development of budding cricketers and force East London schools cricket to improve at a faster pace to match their provincial and regional counterparts.
Joko added: “It was a good tournament as both girls and boys from East London played good cricket, however Selborne’s defeat to Pearson and Stirling’s loss to a far under-resourced Nomandi Secondary, revealed that more work needs to be done at local schools.
“The way Nomandi won is an eye opener. They showed an excellent display of hard work and determination.
”What is pivotal about this tournament is that it brings rural and more resourced schools into competition with each other and ensures that all schools are given platform for the cream of the crop to emerge.
“This competition bridges the gap between schools from disparate soci-economic backgrounds because it gives rural schools a chance, for the first time for some, to actually play on turf. It gives administrators from CSA an opportunity to see the talent we have here.”
Joko said the inclusion of a girls’ event underscored a commitment to growing women’s cricket and served as preparation for the Proteas’ U19 team ahead of the U19 Women’s World Cup, currently being played in Malaysia.