SA20 launches schools Derby Series at St Stithians College
Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith highlights how grassroots cricket and new sponsor support are shaping the country's next generation of international stars.
Cricket legends and current professional players gathered at St Stithians College on September 9, to launch the SA20 schools Derby Series. SA20 League Commissioner Graeme Smith joined Head of Cricket Operations Stephen Cook and players Wiaan Mulder, Lutho Sipamla, Evan Jones and Mitchell van Buuren at Higher Ground Restaurant to unveil the project.
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Smith says the initiative cultivates future world champions, noting that the SA20 schools programme, now in its second year, has grown rapidly across South Africa. “We started the school programme last year: 561 schools, girls and boys. It’s massive; it’s across 15 regions in South Africa,” Smith said. “We have introduced a derby series this year as well.
Fortunately, we had a sponsor in Rain that has decided to get behind us and help create the storylines at school level.”
For Smith, school cricket offers more than a route to professional sport. “Most important is keeping and giving opportunity to those kids… even if you don’t make it professionally, but keeping them doing something rather than running the street,” he said. More than 230 girls’ schools took part last year, alongside U19 girls’ camps. “I love watching the girls play. The passion, the energy… It’s incredible to see how much it means to them,” Smith said.
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The Derby Series pits rival schools against each other from September to mid-March. “There’s big heritage, a lot of tradition, but there’s also new ones we’ve tried to find… in pretty much most of the regions around South Africa,” he said. Smith linked the school’s push to the tournament’s youth rules, which require franchises to field young talent.
“We’re starting to see Pretorius at 17 playing in SA20, Maphaka and the Hermann brothers,” he said. Lhuan-dre Pretorius is a former St Stithians learner. Smith pointed to more than 20 South Africans playing in the Indian Premier League as proof that the talent pipeline is working. “The talent is wanted. It’s there. Hopefully that means the national team will go on and be hugely successful over the next year,” he said.
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