Cricket clinic held in Kwa-Thema

Kwa-Thema – The coaching clinic in Kwa-Thema was to start at 10:30 on Sunday, but at the 11th hour, it was postponed to 14:00.
The Australian team finally stepped onto the pitch at 15:30.
The coaching clinic was held at the Kwa-Thema Sports Complex at the Prince Thethe Oval by Cricket South Africa (CSA) in line with the first U19 Women’s T20 World Cup hosted by South Africa.

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Kwa-Thema Cricket Club (KCC) chairperson Thabiso Msipha said, “We are privileged to get a visit from the teams. This is an important day for the club and the entire community. This will give our club exposure from other countries, like Australia.”
When speaking about Saturday’s game, in which South Africa lost by seven wickets to India, Msipha said cricket is a funny game, and with the way South Africa played, anything could happen.
“South Africa gave a good score, however, India was better,” he said.
Msipha also expressed his disappointment at the leadership of the ward and organisers of the event.

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“The turnout from the leadership is poor. We can’t have teams arriving before them. The organisers also changed the time to 14:00 at the 11th hour, giving us no chance to inform people. Some people have been here since 10:00, while others have already left,” Msipha said.
“The children are happy, and we want to spread a message to parents to send their children to the club to join us. Cricket can keep children busy and they can produce good results as they may one day play for a national team.
“KCC may one day produce a national player, we are that capable.”
KCC and premier league captain Ernest Mbalane said, “It’s amazing to host Australia. We hope to learn from them and hope they learn from us.”
Mbalane said their premier league games start on Saturday. They hope to win at least seven games to keep their premier status.
“As a club, we believe in winning,” he said.
“The two teams (Australia and South Africa) are keen on development, which is a good thing not just for KCC but the community as well,” said KCC former player, Kabelo Setshedi.
The field was in a bad good condition, and the grass didn’t look like it had been mowed.
“Though this is our facility as Ward 77, an independent body runs things on this field. I understand a budget is available to assist in maintaining the field, and if they have an issue with their budget, they can come to us, which they did. However, the municipality has no budget.
“We received a grant from the province that we will use to renovate the complex. The project is to start next month.”
Ward 77 Clr Thulani Dunjane said, “There is a federation with representatives from all of the sporting codes. The KCC will have to speak to the federation on what is needed.”
Asked why the teams arrived late, CSA senior cricket manager and legacy lead for the U19 World Cup Johan Weyels said, “There was a mix-up with the communication team. From 09:30 to 12:30 it’s practice time for teams. Only after that, can we go to the coaching clinics.”
On the loss SA faced at the hands of India, Weyels said, “It was good entertainment for the crowd. We batted well but didn’t execute with the ball what we were supposed to do.
“The Cricket For Good programme is one of the global outreach programmes of the International Cricket Council (ICC), and the coaching clinic is one pillar of the programme.
“We are working with Unicef, which starts part one of the session by rolling out life skills. The second part of the session is more cricket-specific and the international players are involved with the coaching.”
Among those who attended the programme was Prince Thethe, after which the oval is named after.