BNCC gears up for new season

Benoni Northerns Cricket Club (BNCC) begin gearing up for the 2013/14 season this weekend, with the club’s flagship team, the Premier XI, going into the new campaign as first-time defending Easterns Premier League champions.

Premier coach Thys van Lingen, who took captain Kurt Francis and his team to their first-ever title success in his first season in charge, arlier this year, has called his first practise session in preparation for the new season at the club’s nets, on Sunday, August 4, from 10am, with all prospective Premier and Promotion League players invited to attend.

Van Lingen has scheduled a first warm-up match at Northern Areas on September 15, to be followed by two away friendly games before the league competition gets under way in October.

BNCC chairman Gavin Rademeyer has emphasised the importance of the Premier XI being properly prepared for their new challenge.

“As defending champions, Thys, Kurt and the lads can expect all the other top teams in the league to come hard at them in the new season, so they must be ready,” he said.

“They say that getting to the top is the easy part; staying there is much more difficult, but I believe that coach Thys will put together a team capable of doing just that.”

Trials for the club’s various senior sides will be held at the end of the month, with try-outs for Saturday league teams taking place on August 31 and for Sunday league teams on September 1, both from 11am.

The good news is that the club has recognised the need for value for money for its players and has slightly reduced its senior membership fees, which must be paid before the season starts after completing a quick and easy online registration.

Money raised through subs is ploughed directly back into the club for maintenance, upgrading of facilities and preparation of pitches, among other things.

As far as the junior club is concerned, BNCC’s young cricketers, from u-8s to u-14s, have just come off their most successful season yet, with six of the 12 junior teams winning their respective leagues.

The juniors get their new campaign going on Saturday and Sunday, August 17 and 18, with a pre-season net training clinic at the club.

The clinic for the u-14 age group will start on August 17, from 1pm to 2.30pm, and the u-12 age group from 3pm to 4.30pm.

The u-8 age group clinic will start on Sunday, August 18, from 1pm to 2.30pm and the clinic for the u-10 age group will start from 3pm to 4.30pm.

This will be followed by trials on Saturday, August 24 (for u-12s and u-14s) and Sunday, August 25 (for u-8s and u-10s), with warm-up games scheduled to begin on September 7 and 8.

The u-14 age group will have trials from 9.30am to 11.30am.

The trials for the u-12s will take place from noon to 2pm.

The u-8 trials will commence from 9.30am to 11.30am on the Sunday and the u-10 age group trials will run from noon to 2pm.

Registration for juniors is also online and subs are unchanged from last season.

“We are looking forward to yet another fruitful and exciting season, hopefully even better than the previous one,” said Rademeyer.