The Corner Flag: Eastern Storm, do it for Radebe

Eastern Storm may just surprise us this season.

Even if they fell short in the CSA T20 Knockout, I still believe they are on course to achieving division one status.

The mood during the final against Tuskers indicated that even the few supporters inside Willowmoore Park believed that something great could happen.

I sat near the covers below the grass embankment watching Chris Britz’s elegance with the bat and Kabelo Sekhukhune’s flair as they opened the batting.

I sat there looking at the exact spot where former Easterns head groundsman Mncedisi Radebe used to sit while watching the team play.

I know no bigger Eastern Storm supporter than Radebe. Sadly, he’s no longer with us after he was killed on New Modder Road on September 27.

My last conversation with the man was on September 24 when Eastern played the Garden Route Badgers. Eastern bowled first and after a decent start, the Badgers took control of the middle overs and were in the 160s when the game ended.

I approached Radebe and asked why he had prepared a pitch that favoured the batsmen. He responded that historically teams batting first usually don’t win at Willowmoore Park and confidently concluded that Easterns would win.

Eastern Storm did indeed win.

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Three days later, Radebe was hit by two cars after falling off his motorbike. The police found a rope at the scene and suspect it was threaded across the road to hook his bike, which caused him to fall.

Apparently, this is a new modus operandi for hijacking motorbikes.

During that final, I found myself caught in a mix of emotions because it’s unfathomable how a man could be senselessly killed for a motorbike. But as we have seen in our country, criminals can kill for a lot less.

One Eastern Storm fan mentioned capital punishment as the only solution to deal with such criminality. I don’t advocate for it but it’s hard to ignore such calls when people die in the manner Radebe was killed.

What was his crime? Owning a motorbike? What did he do to deserve to die like that? Radebe lived a straight life. He never troubled anyone.

He held my hand and showed me what his job entailed in our first encounter in December 2022, when he was preparing to take over from Brendan Frost.

We then established a solid friendship and whenever I was at Willowmoore Park, we would sit on the main pavilion and he would fill me in on what’s been happening in his life.

While his biggest dream was to prepare a field for a test match, he mentioned how he couldn’t wait to see Eastern Storm play in the first division.

He would have enjoyed watching that final against the Tuskers.

I hope Radebe’s death is not in vain. If the police fail to find the culprits, may the Eastern Storm turn his wish into a reality and qualify for the top division.

No pressure though.

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