LIMPOPO – The Hoedspruit Sports Academy (HSA) cricket team has become a force in the provincial cricket arena after winning the Limpopo Promotional League.

This achievement reflects not only the talent and hard work of the players but also the strong support from the academy and the community.

HSA played against Potties Old Boys Cricket Club in the finals on Sunday, March 16.

Potties won the toss and elected to bat first. HSA took the field with a positive and hungry attitude and restricted Potties to 148 all out after 26.4 overs.

Some amazing bowling from Andrew Viljoen and Alexx Godrich saw them taking seven wickets together. The fielding was tight, and Kyle Pretorius achieved an amazing runout with a direct hit.

“HSA went into bat and we chased down the score at a steady rate with no score board pressure. Victor Breytenbach had an amazing opening knock making 59 runs, not out, and with the support from the other batsmen we were able to make 150/5 after 33.3 overs. We are super happy with Hoedspruit’s pride in winning the finals and the support from the town was amazing. Without our sponsors none of our dreams would be a reality. We are over the moon with the win, we have been working for this for two years and all the hard work paid off. We were hungry for it, and you could see it in the field, every member of the team gave their all to the team and for the town,” said Mickey Buyst, head coach for HSA.

He said that by winning the Limpopo Promotional League they now progress to the Limpopo Premier League, meaning they will have two senior teams’ next season.

“Hoedspruit is hungry for cricket and now people have the stage to showcase their talents. We have lots of warm-up games coming up so we can get ready for the next season that starts in September.”

HSA thanked BF Fuels, Huegah Coffee, Antojitos, Coastal Hire, Manzi, Pure Water and Swadini Forever Resorts for their support.