The North West Rural Dragons side was crowned as the national winners for the third year in succession during this Rural Cricket South Africa Week (RCSA). The Dragons showed their class at St. Andrews College in Grahamstown from 26 to 29 February and beat all comers for a historic three-peat.

The following members from North West Rural Dragons Cricket were selected for the Rural Cricket South Africa Team to participate in the Future Cup in April 2019.

Michael Enslin from NWU Cricket Club was selected as the captain of the Rural Cricket South Africa side with Divan Bester also from NWU Cricket Club. Ruben Visagie of NWU and Ziets Nyembe of Impala were included as part of the squad for the future.

Henk Conradie’s brilliant 6/12 against Border Country and Visagie’s 91 against Boland were some of the exceptional performances on display.

Enslin lauded his team’s effort during the week and gave a captain’s nod of approval to his trophy-winning side.
“My team has been exceptional and really easy to lead, because of their ability to rise to the occasion and grasp each opportunity to the full. I want to congratulate every one of my teammates who performed consistently and worked towards the main goal – bringing the Cup home,” stated Enslin.

The NW Rural Dragons team manager, Christo Gous, was also full of compliments for his side after achieving a hat-trick of triumphs.
“The side was going to be our most inexperienced side to date but we believed our selection was spot on.
“Our mission was to win the tournament with fearless cricket. Every person, from the players to the management, set their minds on the goal and I am happy to say – mission accomplished! Well done to all the administrators,” he said.
“A special word of thanks to the CEO, Mr H.P. Prinsloo for the support he has given us in the short time he has been running the NW Cricket,” he added.

Results:

Day 1: NW Rural vs Boland (NW win by 118 runs)
NW Rural Dragons 281/8
Ruben Visagie 91
Michael Enslin 62
Boland 163 all out
Ruan van Tonder (3/50).
Henk Conradie (2/31).

Day 2: NW Rural vs Border Villages (NW win by 8 wickets)
Border Village 151 all out
Henk Conradie (3/19)
Bantu Dandala (2/10)
NW Rural Dragons 152/2
Charl du Toit 77 *
Michael Enslin 45*
Phemelo Sepati 25.

Day 3: NW Rural vs EP Midlands (NW win by 9 wickets)
EP Midlands 136/10
Divan Bester (3/24)
Bantu Dandala (2/28)
NW Rural Dragons 137/1
Phemelo Sepati 71*
Ruben Visagie 44.

Day 4: NW Rural vs Border Country
NW Rural Dragons 141 all out
Michael Enslin 45
Border Country 68 all out
Henk Conradie (6/12)
Ziets Nyembe (2/33).

Day 5: T20 Games
First T20 Game: NW Rural vs Free State Rural
NW Rural Dragons 138/5
Phemelo Sepati 39
Free State Rural 107 all out
Divan Bester (2/17).

Second T20 Game: NW Rural vs EP Grahamstown
EP Grahamstown 108/10
Divan Bester (4/9)
Jesse- James Albanie (4/17)
NW Rural Dragons 112/5
Michael Enslin 44.