After nine years of dominance by Tuks, the Irene Villagers senior men’s first team recently made history when they were crowned the new Premier League club champions of Northerns Cricket.

To make this achievement even greater, it was also the very first time in the club’s history that they were able to win this prestigious league.

Following a truncated season due to the Covid-19 crisis, the Irene Villagers side defied all odds in an unbeaten run (11 matches, 10 wins, 1 no result) to claim the prestigious title in an historic campaign.

Although this achievement was the result of a team effort, there were still some players who played a huge role in the team’s success during the season.

Special mention must go to all-rounder Jordan Neil, who was the leading run-scorer in the league with 335 runs, which included three half centuries. Neil was also the leading wicket-taker with 17 wickets in his nine matches.

Due to these excellent performances Neil was selected by the provincial selectors to play in the Northerns Inter-Squad matches, which will be used to select the Northerns B/Colts team for the 2021/2022 season.

Another Irene Villagers player, Sibusiso Maseko, was also selected along with Neil to play in this series.

Two more of the club’s top players, Kulani Baloyi and Kiel van Vollenhoven represents Northerns during the past season in the Cricket SA Three-Day Provincial Cup and CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge, which was completed in February and March this year.

Zendon Verster trained with the squad in the build up to the tournament, but he did not play in any of the matches.

The performance of the club’s first team was not the only highlight for Irene Villagers during the 2020/2021 season. Several other teams of the club in the Women’s and Juniors Leagues have won their respective leagues.

In the end, Irene Villagers won five top-tier trophies in the past season.

Meanwhile, management have already started planning for the new season, which will start soon and the success of 2020/2021 has definitely inspired Irene Villagers’ players to build on that and become the top club under the jurisdiction of the Northerns Cricket Union.

For any further information, please visit the club’s website at: www.irenecc.co.za .

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