Junior cricketers awarded after an impressive season
The first week of April is what Benoni Northerns Junior Cricket Club (BNJCC) were most looking forward too as this was the week they would have been getting ready for a party as they receive their awards for their season's hard work.
“We were fortunate enough to complete our full season, with our last matches played on March 14, explained Brendan Stolle (Junior Cricket Committee), so having the prize-giving to award our players for all their hard work had to happen.”
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When the lockdown came into effect in March, the club knew they wouldn’t be able to hold their annual prize-giving, but they also knew they had tons of awards they wanted to give out and tons of members who deserved these awards. So far, throughout the lockdown, BNJCC hasn’t had to worry about not being able to do training, as they have already completed their season.
“Lockdown has had no impact on us; however, our new season, which is set to start in October, seems unlikely to commence. “We are hopeful that we will at least be in a position to take to the fields in January next year,” explained Stolle.
Despite lockdown, BNJCC has managed to stay positive and keep the youth in their club motivated.”We had 15 teams entered this last season, as opposed to 12 teams for the previous season, indicating junior cricket is in a healthy position at Benoni Northerns,” explained Stolle.”It is specifically difficult for our children as lockdown refuses them to go about their day-to-day sporting and socialising activities. “But our sports fields are waiting for our return, hopefully soon. “Our fields will once again be buzzing with activity – parents cheering and supporting, teams showing the true Northerns sportsmanship and players showing off their skill and embracing the sport they love.”
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BNJCC was very proud of the turnout they had this year, with the number of awards they had to give out and the amount of teams they had entered.”In the end, we had to cater for 195 junior players, which resulted in the Benoni Northerns junior cricket section entering 15 teams into the Easterns Junior Cricket League.”A strategic move was taken to reduce team sizes in order to give the players more game time. “In essence, a good move at the time, but this came with its own challenges during the season, which had to be remedied. “We thank all the teams for making the games happen and ensuring we were always competitive,” said Stolle.
Then it was time for the awards, which are allocated per team – batsman, bowler and coaches awards.These awards are selected by the respective coaches based on performance and commitment.
“The wins are always good and we have witnessed some nail-biters throughout our junior setup. “We thank our juniors for their efforts and commitment during the season – you are all winners,” said Stolle.
The awards:
u-8 ImpalaBatsman: Zander Labuschagne, bowler: Kayven Hills and coaches choice: Morne Labuschagne
u-8 Carnival 1Batsman: Calvin Knight, bowler: Luhan Strey and coaches choice: Gerhardus Nel
u-8 Carnival 2Batsman: Travis van Wessemael, bowler: Luke Buchel and coaches choice: Bismarck Rall
u-10 ImpalaBatsman: Keaghan Greensmith, bowler: Jake Bevolo and coaches choice: James Giles
u-10 SunBatsman: Liam Harvey, bowler: Justin Summers and coaches choice: Jayden Human
u-10 CarnivalBatsman: Brayden Wills, bowler: Brian Williams and coaches choice: Adrian Vercueil
u-10 Mark Kingham Batsman: Aiden Doig, bowler: Riley Long and coaches choice: Ricardo Marneweck
u-12 ImpalaBatsman: Kenan Shaw, bowler: Ethan Meiring and coaches choice: Matthew Nicholas
u-12 SunBatsman: Carter Lindsay, bowler: Luke Stolle and coaches choice: Ethan Liversage
u-12 Carnival 1Batsman: Liam Karels, bowler: Isaac Aube and coaches choice: Cayden Thompson
u-12 Carnival 2Batsman: Ronaldo McCabe, bowler: Nathan King and coaches choice: Joshua Cunniffe
u-12 Andrew GroblerBatsman: Oak Fourie, bowler: Morne Olivier and coaches choice: Sange Hewu
u-14 Impala 1Batsman: Warren Minnaar, bowler: Michael Koch and coaches choice: Ethan Smit
u-14 Impala 2Batsman: Marco Olivier, bowler: Jason van der Merwe and coaches choice: Jordan Wilson and Matthew Summers
u-14 CarnivalBatsman: Mark Wesley, bowler: Troy Beart and coaches choice: Joshua Elliot
Other achievements:
100 runs in a game: Warren Minnaar (129) and Keaghan Greensmith (112)
Five-plus wickets in a game: Ethan Meiring (seven), Owen Jagnath (five) and Jason Marneweck (five)
Top five batsmen (total season runs): Cayden Thompson (288, u-12 Carnival 1), Carter Lindsay (272, u-12 Sun), Keaghan Greensmith (266, u-10 Impala), Warren Minnaar (246, u-14 Impala 1) and Aiden Doig (244, u-10 Mark Kingham)
Top five season bowlers: Ethan Meiring (18 wickets, S/R 5.33, RPO 3.31), Luke Stolle (18 wickets, S/R 7.89, RPO 3.81), Michael Koch (17 wickets, S/R 8.71, RPO 3.72), Lehumo Kambule (13 wickets, S/R 7.31, RPO 4.13) and Nathan King (11 wickets, S/R 11, RPO 4.65)
“Bowlers depend on fielders to take the catches and stem the flow of runs.”The bowling attack is deployed to bowl as economically as possible, either to prevent the opponents from reaching our score or to provide an achievable run chase for the batsmen. “Batsmen are to methodically build successful partnerships during a run chase or when setting up the team total during the first innings. “In summary, it’s not the team with the best players that wins, it’s the players with the best team that wins,” concluded Stolle.
