Hard work gets cricketer into the big leagues

Clem Murray’s hard work and perseverance paid off when he was the only cricket player in the province to be selected for the u/17 national camp. The Uplands College pupil will attend the camp in Potchefstroom from September 25 to 28.

Murray’s coach says the young cricketer never received the recognition he deserved in primary school, because provincial team selectors perceived him as smaller than the other boys and not as strong. Through dedication, hard work and the support of his dad, Brentt, he became the great cricketer and person he is today.

Murray scored his first century for Uplands when he was 15, but his batting prowess is not what makes this young player exceptional. He is in his element behind the stumps and is seen as one of the best schoolboy wicketkeepers in the country. These skills were first noticed by selectors at the u/15 Mpumalanga trials in 2012 and the next year he was invited to attend a Titans u/17 camp.

This redhead from the Lowveld also made a big impression at the u/17 national week where Cricket SA scouts saw him score 50 runs in a game and display his wicketkeeping skills at their best.

Murray’s other achievements to date include playing in Mpumalanga’s interprovincial hockey team from 2008 to 2012 and in 2014, captaining the u/13s in 2010 and the u/14s in 2011 and representing the Lowveld Indoor Cricket Interprovincial Team from 2007 to 2012, captaining the u/11s in 2008, u/13s in 2010 and u/15s in 2012. He also played five test matches in New Zeeland in 2010 as part of the SA u/15 Indoor Cricket Team, as well as in the u/16s SA Invitational at the Junior World Cup in 2012.

Uplands College congratulates Murray on his achievement and says he is proof that team selections at junior provincial level should not determine players’ future. His story should also act as encouragement for pupils to persevere through disappointments in their daily lives.