The Khaya Majola U19 Cricket Week is a tournament that all young cricketers dream of taking part in. This is where the country’s future stars show the skills they have learnt over all the years of playing school cricket.
The top provinces take part and the competition is extremely tough with a strength vs strength format. If the players perform exceptionally well here, there is a possibility of being selected for the SA Schools side or the Schools Colts team.
The top performers also stand a good chance of being chosen for the SA U19 squad and from there on, their cricket careers can only go on to bigger things.
The 2019 Khaya Majola Cricket will be played in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands from December 16 to 20. It will be hosted by the KZN Inland Schools Cricket Union and based at Michaelhouse School in Balgowan.
This is the 26th time the event is being staged since the unification of South African Cricket in 1994, although the tournament has been running in various guises since 1940.
Free State has named a strong and well-balanced team for the tourney.
The province has long been one of the traditional powerhouses at the prestigious tournament, which is cricket’s very own version of rugby’s Craven Week.
Former VKB Knights bowling all-rounder Dillon du Preez will be in charge of the team and it is also a major step in the right direction for him in his young career as a coach.
This year the squad is dominated by Grey College and St Andrews’ School, with each of these institutions boasting five and four players respectively.
Marco de Kock (wicketkeeper-batman), Juan-Dee Oliver (batsman), Lerato Nqoyi (off-spinner), Michael Kershaw (seamer) and Jean-Piere Coetzee (medium pace) all hail from Grey, while the spin-twins, Ruan Cronjé and Pheko Moletsane, as well as Reeza Alexander (batsman) and Corné Viljoen (batting all-rounder), are from Saints.
