South Africa’s next generation of Rabadas, Bavumas and Duminys is well on its way to emulating their heroes after North West Cricket hosted another successful KFC Mini Cricket festival at the Potchefstroom Military Sports Club’s fields last weekend.   A sea of red and white clothed young cricketers set the scene on Saturday 24 September as North West Cricket once again took the game to all corners of the province with this exciting initiative.

Buses loaded with approximately 900 kids from all over the province  and 136 coaches, descended upon the fields with smiles of excitement showing their love for the sport.   Wickets tumbled, balls were stroked all across the grass and some spectacular catches were made – AB de Villiers  beware!

Rico Ramokhethi, the coordinator of KFC Mini Cricket in North West, explained that the main aim of this event was to evaluate the standard of players and the skills of coaches who are part of the mini cricket programme.

‘We want to see coaches imparting their skills and helping the young kids to be the best cricketers they can be. Each child plays two games and gets a chance to show their skill at our   activation zone, where we test fielding with a few fun drills,” he stated.

One of the most important aspects of this Mini Cricket programme is the  coaches, such as Renate Spangenberg, who put in hours of effort to develop a love for cricket in a number of rural and underdeveloped areas.

‘I have been involved with KFC Mini Cricket for eight years and, in that time, I have seen a huge improvement in the kids’ hand-eye coordination. This has also had a really positive effect on improving their learning ability in the classrooms. The kids whom I work with are from Taung and this is a great opportunity for them to get involved in sport and to do something that makes them happy,” she said.

Bizhub Highveld Lions batsman, Nicky van den Bergh, was quite impressed by the excitement and passion that these youngsters showed throughout the day.

‘It is great that these kids get the    opportunity to play sport. It is also fantastic to see the enthusiasm of the coaches and this rubs off on the kids. It is vital to plant the seed early and this bodes well for the future of cricket,’ he added.

Photos: Wouter Pienaar