SA honours Baby Proteas

THE Ministry of Sport and Recreation held a ceremony in honour of the Baby Proteas on March 18 at Sandton Square.

The Proteas u.19 cricket team won the ICC T20 World Cup, beating Pakistan in the finals in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, the first ever World Cup in cricket to be brought back home.

Various dignitaries, which included the Minster of Sport, Fikile Mbalula, Deputy Miniter of Sport, Gert Oosthuizen, the MEC for Sport in Gauteng, and Lebogang Maile, to name but a few, and of course the public came out to honour these youngsters, who won the first World Cup cricket trophy for South Africa.

“It is an honour for us to praise you for your efforts to bring the T20 World Cup to South Africa,” said Mr Mbalula. He privately shook their hands before the u.19 group of players went out in the public. Mbalula handed the Baby Proteas, as they are affectionately known, a cheque of R200 000 which the players and their technical staff could use as they wish.

“This is the team that will carry us through to the senior level. This is what South Africa needs and we are all proud of them.”

Mbalula said he would like to “thank the parents who gave birth to this excellent bunch of youngsters”.

“They are a bunch of winners and we have come to honour them.” The minister attracted criticism when he described Bafana Bafana as “a bunch of losers” when they were beaten by Nigeria in a recent match.

The Proteas u.19 captain, Aidan Markram, said: ”The team that amazed us the most was Afganistan. They were really very hard to beat, as they went out giving their all and played all-out cricket. We didn’t have time to think about our achievement; as we arrived back in South Africa it was all back to our studies. It is a wonderful experience to be honoured by the minister of sport.”