Local NPO gives youth opportunity to play pro cricket

A local NPO, Moot Crusaders wants to encourage young local cricketers to get involved in their local Last Man Stands (LMS) amateur cricket league.

Moot Crusaders was founded by Pierre Hattingh in April of 2022 out of his love and passion for cricket, especially the LMS format.

As a Group Financial Manager, Hattingh says he saw his work become his life.

Little by little he sought to find ways to get the balance back in his life.

After reading about the LMS format of cricket, he saw the solution he was looking for.

He started as a stand-in player for a team called Golden Ducks and was soon part of the team.

However, by this time the opportunity to create what is now known as Moot Crusaders already presented itself.

The obstacle is the costs associated with playing LMS as teams have to pay for every game they compete in and sponsorships were hard to come by.

Hattingh says he realised that if he wanted to build the best team with the most talented players, he had to go out and find them.

He however soon found that getting the players and having them pay for games was no easy task, as many of them are schoolchildren and others had little to no means of financial support.

That is when he registered a non-profit with a focus on youth development.

Having invested all his personal finances in the first season, problems of older players leaving the team started to hamper growth.

Some of the older players were not completely on board with his idea of youth development and left the team.

With a shrinking pool of talent, the team ended second last on the log for the winter season.

Hattingh says this is where his business-savvy kicked in.

He went out and recruited young talented players from the community and quickly had to rebuild a team to enter the spring season.

Hattingh approached various businesses with his idea and was able to secure donations from local businesses.

These generous donations and sponsorships helped pay for match fees and team kits.

“The team just clicked and we started winning,” said Hattingh.

“We ended up winning the Spring Season and were promoted to division 4.”

Under Hattingh’s captaincy, they have won 14 games in a row.

Hattingh says Moot Crusaders would not have been where they are today had it not been for Abri Meyer.

Meyer was co-founder of Moot Crusaders and was Hattingh’s best friend.

“He was with the team from game one and was our wicketkeeper.

The team went from strength to strength in the spring season and managed to get to the semi-final on November 20 last year.

“Meyer played an excellent game.

“Sadly, on November 23, we were informed of the sudden passing of Meyer from a heart attack and the team will miss him dearly.”

Giving amateurs a professional experience, LMS is a two-hour, eight-a-side, T20 amateur cricket game, perfect for busy cricketers on mid-week evenings and weekends.

There are five balls per over instead of the usual six.

It is fast-paced, popular and exciting due to several unique rules – Steal, Home Run, Double Play and Last Man Stands.

Currently, Hattingh is looking to get more young players involved in this exciting format of the game and expand the team with young talent.

To get involved with Moot Crusaders contact Pierre Hattingh at 071 611 7147, or visit the Moot Crusaders Facebook page.

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