Daniel Griesel scores the first hundred in the Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Cricket Week

But some games did start and a player from Mpumalanga, Daniel Griesel, who is making waves with his consistent fine form this year, managed to notch up 39 runs not out, off 36 balls before rain stopped play in their game against Eastern Province.

The Mpumalanga wicketkeeper/batsman contributes his success to his philosophy of the game which is that cricket is a simple game and it doesn’t pay to make it complicated.

“When the ball is there, hit it, is my philosophy,” he says. The upshot was 109 runs off 104 balls with 10 fours and four sixes against Griquas on Tuesday, to go with his 48 off 25 balls, with 10 fours against SWD on day one.  Daniel is the leading run scorer of the tournament so far.

Daniel just finished grade 11 and this is his first Coca-Cola Khaya Majola cricket week. He is big and muscular looking more like a rugby player than a cricketer, but his passion is in cricket and doesn’t play rugby anymore.

In last year’s national under-17 tournament he notched up scores of 109 and 33 not out against Limpopo and 50 against Western Province.

He says he is enjoying the tournament and likes the fact that he is the leading run scorer so far but he does not have any expectations. He would like to make the SA Schools team and go to the under-19 World Cup next year in Dubai but that’s just a dream for the moment and not something that he expects to do.

“Mpumalanga is a small province so we are not expected to do well,” he says. “I hope my team can beat one of the stronger teams in the week to show that we can be dangerous and should be taken seriously.”

Daniel played rugby as an outside centre, and started cricket as a bowling all rounder. When he was under-14 he chipped a bone in his hip and tore the ligaments in his knee. That meant the end of his rugby career and he also found that bowling hurt his knee and hip, so had to stop. He concentrated on batting from then onwards and has managed to specialize in the discipline.

He found he cannot keep still in the field, so he took up wicket keeping and has become quite good at that too.

Daniel comes from a proud and successful sporting family.  His mother, Sunett Griesel, played action cricket for South Africa. She was in the team that went to the World Cup in New Zealand. His father Bertus Griesel played action cricket for Mpumalanga and his brother played in the Mpumalanga Coca-Cola Craven Week rugby team in 2011. He captained the team as a flank.

Morning T20 Scores

Free State vs Boland

Free State 25/4 (Botha 3/8) game abandoned

Limpopo vs Border

Limpopo 27/2 (Sigwili 2/9) game abandoned

Mpumalanga vs Eastern Province

Mpumalanga 122/6 in 20 overs (Griesel 39*Carlisle 23, Manjezi 3/9) game abandoned

Easterns vs Northerns

Easterns 122/7 in 20 overs (Germishuizen 67, Rasemene 2/6) game abandoned

KZN Inland vs Griqualand West

KZN Inland 51/0 (Mahmoud 27*, van Wymeersch  16*) game abandoned

KZN Coastal vs SWD

KZN Coastal  74/6 (Naidoo 22*, Phehlukwayo 21*, Oberholzer 3/3) game abandoned

Western province vs North West

Western Province 26/0 (Fortuin 16*) game abandoned

Gauteng vs Namibia

Namibia 29/2 (Kruger 23*) game abandoned