Matthew Wittstock has hailed the Benoni Northerns Cricket Club premier league side’s title-winning campaign, praising the appointment of coach Mark Robey and the fighting spirit shown by the club’s young squad.

Wittstock captained Northerns to their first Eastern Premier League championship in 13 years after a memorable season that yielded 11 victories, one defeat and two rain-affected matches. His leadership and performances with the ball, which included 20 wickets, earned him the club’s most valuable player award at the seniors’ end-of-season prize-giving on June 5.

“Every year, I don’t expect to win anything. Somehow, I manage to, but that’s not the goal at the end of the day. The goal is to make the club as good as it can be, and I feel like I’ve finally done that,” he said.

“I remember in an interview last year, you asked me if I hoped to win any trophies. I told you I wanted to win the Premier League. It’s now officially ours. Thirteen years coming. It feels unbelievable.

“The club MVP is just a cherry on top. The Premier League trophy means way more than anything else I could have won tonight.”

Reflecting on the season, Wittstock said building a strong team culture was initially a challenge, but credited Robey and assistant coach Andrew Smith for helping unite the group.

“It was tough in the beginning. There was a bit of a toss-up over who was going to captain the side, and it eventually fell my way, which I’m grateful for. Then there was the challenge of building a team dynamic because we’ve struggled with that over the last few years.

“Everything just fell into place. We won a few games back-to-back and then unfortunately lost to CBC. They’re an unbelievable team, and I wasn’t there for that game, so it was tough on the boys.

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“But I feel like we clicked at exactly the right moment. The game against Avion was a must-win, and the boys came out firing. We were unbelievable.”

He believes that victory over Avion Park proved to be the turning point in Northerns’ title charge.

“Our biggest challenge was fighting for that culture. Last year, I said I wanted the boys to feel the same love for this club that I have, and I think we achieved that this season. That culture is the only reason we won this Premier League.”

The Premier League side’s success was further recognised when it received the Team of the Year award.
Looking ahead, Wittstock said the challenge now is to build on their achievement.

“We’ve got to keep it rolling,” he said.

Other award winners

Last year’s club MVP, Kian Schwartz, was named Premier League player of the season, while Kenan Shaw received the young player of the year award.

Aiden Shaw claimed the breakthrough player award, and JJ Coetzee was named veteran player of the year. Marichelle Lubbe received the ladies’ player of the year accolade for her outstanding all-round contribution.

Daniel van der Berg was named senior player of the year and also collected the batsman of the year award, while Smith was recognised as the senior bowler of the year.

Tyreece Kruger and Kamogelo Modishane shared the chairman’s award.

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