SHELL SA CRICKET ACADEMY REPORT
Two years have already passed by and it always gives me great pleasure to have been associated with young players who come through our academy and progressed into higher honours. Duncan Brown and Rivash Gobind have gone on to represent the Nashua Dolphins; Hashim Amla, Bongwa Hlongwane and Imraan Khan have been given Nashua Dolphins contracts for the 2001/2002 season. At the completion of the National Plascon Academy 2001, Duncan had the honour of being named the best batsman of this intake.

SUB-UNIONS
Our Shell SA Academy days that were set up in our sub-unions have grown from strength to strength. We have increased the practice sessions from one day a week to two days per week, and the number of sub-unions has also grown. The sub-unions include Pietermaritzburg, Midlands, Umzinto, Zululand, Matatiele/Ixopo, Durban South, Durban North, Ladysmith, Newcastle, Mandeni, Stanger, Port Shepstone and Tongaat. These Satellite Academies have become very successful and we have identified a number of talented young players in theses areas. The success of these Academies can be seen in our results during Michaelmas Week, as well as the growing number of boys that are now being selected in our KZNCU Schools Teams. Here I would like to mention a youngster, Saeed Mhlongo from Stanger, who has gone on to represent KZN Schools A and KZN U19 with great distinction.

JULY CAMP
Our July Camp was once again a great success. Ex South African cricketer Peter Carlstein who is currently a top batting coach in Western Australia, spent two weeks with the boys. Again this was by invitation only, but unlike previous years, with the involvement of our Sub Unions, we were able to invite boys from as far as Ixopo, Matatiele, Howick and Wartburg. As mentioned before these Shell SA Academy Days have proved to be a great success. The boys spent a week with what involved intensive batting and bowling coaching, lectures on Sports Psychology and Sports Physiology and not forgetting a `bit' of fitness. Two games were also played during each week. The involvement of Peter Carlstein proved a great success.
It was encouraging to note from him that his opinion is that he rates the Shell SA Academy as one of the best he has been involved with. During the two weeks Peter also conducted morning coaching sessions in Zululand, Pietermaritzburg, Port Shepstone and Durban.
It is pleasing to note from an outsider that we are well in touch (this is supported by the great success of Shell SA Academy Days). We have and must once again thank Shell SA for their support and of course all my coaching staff.

The following boys were invited:
I KHAN
K NAICKER
A KADWA
S MHLONGO
T NXELE
K NAGIN
G ADDICOTT
D SAMANATHAN
B MOSES
E SPRINGER
D HORSFALL
D ADDICOTT
R MINNIE
W IRVINE
D BOOTE
R REEVES
U OSMAN
A OSMAN
A CHANDRAPRAKASH
A CHANDRAPRAKASH
V GOBIND
C CHETTY
D PILLAY
P RAMPERSAD
T PILLAY
T JALI
D GOVENDER
V PREMRAJ
N MOHAMMED
T CHIMANE
D MORTIMER
R HILLERMANN
R HILLERMANN
B VERMAAK
K VILAKAZI
W FYNN
C DRUMMOND
A HARGREAVES
N SHAH
F SHAIK
U BHEMNARAYAN
Y MADIKIZELA
R ANDERSON
J PANDOHE

MICHAELMAS WEEK

The 42nd Michaelmas Cricket Week was held at Maritzburg College from 29 September until the 2 October 2001. There were 14 teams participating in the tournament, with KZN Shell Academy being the only development team. Palmerston North Boys' High School was an invitation team from New Zealand. The Shell Academy won 2 games and lost 2 games. The team performed excellently on the second day to beat Grey College, and cause the biggest upset of the week! Although losing to Pretoria Boys, we were the only team at the week to bowl them out. The win against Palmerston North Boys' was excellent in a rain-affected match. Despite losing two games, they gave an excellent account of themselves, and didn't leave the tournament without making a mark.

The team list was as follows:
Darren Mortimer (Captain)
East Springer
Riaan Minnie
Devon Pillay
Uzair Osman
Azhar Osman
Tyron Pillay
Rudi Hillermann
Rolf Hillermann
Preshen Rampersadh (Wicket-Keeper)
Camden Chetty
Saidi Mhlongo
Vyash Gobind

Results:
Day 1: Pretoria Boys' High won by 29 runs.
Day 2: Shell Academy won by 1 wicket.
Day 3: Kind Edward won by 106 runs.
Day 4: Shell Academy won by 96 runs.

YOUTH PROGRAMME
Our Shell Academy Youth Programme has continued with great enthusiasm and support from all the schools in KwaZulu Natal. Six squads practice on a weekly basis with age groups comprising of U18, U16, U15, U14 and a Primary Schools Squad. These boys are either invited and or nominated by their schools. These boys were also fortunate to be coached by Eldine Baptiste during the off-season and again his invaluable input has been a tremendous asset to the Academy. The success of the Shell SA Cricket Academy Youth Programme is reflected in our KZN U19 results whereby they are now unbeaten in three years. Our KZN Schools Team all had a highly successful Coca Cola Week.

During the off-season we conducted a very successful training programme with boys from the townships. With the co-operation and the hard work that Linda Zondi, Sakhele Simon and Rodney Malamba have done in these areas, it is very pleasing to see the enthusiasm from these young boys. An example of this is a youngster Toto Chamane who represented KZN Schools B team at the recent Coca Cola Week. With the continued support and hard work from the coaches, this programme can only grow.

On average 250 boys are invited to attend the Academy per month. Out of this 55% are players of colour.

PLASCON ACADEMY

The Plascon Academy, our National Academy, is a definite highlight of our year. Once again we were outplayed by Teams who showed far more confidence and experience than we did. We played 2 three-day games and 2 one-day games and although we did not perform well, we learnt a great deal. The boys realized that in order for them to achieve, they need to lift their game a level. I found this situation was exactly the same as last year.

Last June I saw an unbelievable improvement in not only the boys play, but also their attitude towards games and practices. Again it happened this year and I saw a great improvement in their play and attitude toward practice.

WINTER LEAGUE

For the first time the Shell SA Cricket Academy entered a team into our local Winter League. The boys took a little time to adapt to the much shorter version of the game but once they had adapted we played some really good cricket only to be disappoint ourselves by losing in the semi-finals. If such a competition takes place in 2002 the Shell SA Cricket Academy will definitely enter again and hopefully with the same success.

At the end of February, our Senior Academy Team toured Pretoria and Gauteng. We played one 3-day game and two 1-day games against the Northerns Academy. Unfortunately the 3-day game was interrupted by rain with the odds evenly balanced. We lost the two 1-day games very narrowly. The Northerns Academy had a little more experience than us, which counted during crucial stages of these games.

The Gauteng game we lost the toss were put in on a difficult wicket. We did however post a reasonable score but it was never enough for an experienced Gauteng Colts Team.

The tour proved very successful not only from a cricket point of view but also from a learning perspective. The boys got to know one another and more importantly got to meet boys from other provinces. These are valuable friendships and experiences that hopefully our boys will carry with them for the rest of their life.

Results:
28 February
Northerns Academy - 174/10
(Harvey 36/4, Power 64/4)
Shell Academy - 207/8
(Rosenberg 45, Anderson 28)
Northerns Academy - 115/6
(Symcox 16/2, Anderson 24/2)

March
Shell Academy-141/9
(Harvey 38, Rosenberg 20)
Northerns Academy-142/8
(Pietersen 13/2, Symcox 17/2, Power 26/2)

2 March
Northerns Academy-185/9
(Power 27/3, Anderson 36/3)
Shell Academy-176/7
(Smit 34, Bassage 32, Pietersen 24*)

23-25 March
Shell Academy-134/10
(Smit 42, Hauptfleisch 27)
Gauteng Colts-204/7 (Hauptfleisch 32/2, Anderson 39/2, Rock 8/1)
Shell Academy-209/8
(Hauptfleicsh 87*, Van Vuuren 44, Anderson 30)

6 March
Shell Academy-203/5
(Harvey 69, Bassage 42, Sanders 35, Hauptfleicsh 31)
Gauteng Colts-204/8
(Govender 26/3, Pietersen 41/2)
27 March
Shell Academy-171/9 (Gobind 79)
Gauteng Colts-101/10 (Symcox 23/3, Anderson 6/2, Dennington 13/2)

During the `off' season Eldine Baptiste who had recently been appointed the Dolphins Coach for 2001 / 2002 again coached the Senior Academy. Once again his invaluable input helped improve the boys cricketing skills and knowledge about the game. These sessions overlapped into the Dolphins pre-season practice schedule of which the Shell SA Cricket Academy became an integrated part. The boys gained valuable experience practicing with players of the likes of Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener and Jonty Rhodes.

Unfortunately with every happy moment there comes a sad one too. We were unfortunate to lose Wayne van Vuuren in a tragic car accident in June. Our thoughts and prayers are with Wayne's family.

I would like to congratulate Hashim Amla, Imraan Khan and Lucky Dladla on their selection to attend the Plascon National Academy. Hashim has also been honoured as the South African U19 captain. Imraan made this same side as well as captaining the South African Schools. Adrian Penzhorn was selected to tour with the South African Colts side.

At the end of the year function the following Academy Awards were presented:
Academy Player of the Year - Victor Xulu Most Improved Player - Saeed Mhlongo Academy Achievers of the Year - Matthew Dennington,Imraan Khan, Russel Symcox, John Anderson

Yet again we have had another very successful year at the Shell SA Cricket Academy. One cannot reiterate the importance of such a great sponsor as Shell SA. I would like to thank Shell SA and especially Linda Ntombela for their ongoing support. To Craig, Odette and all at Varsity College for providing the senior boys with an invaluable education.

I'm also very excited to announce that we will be spreading our wings in 2002, with the generous support from the above two sponsors, we are setting up a Shell SA Senior Cricket Academy in Pietermaritzburg.

Senior Shell Academy Intake for 2002:
Durban: Creesan Naicker, Ashraf Kadwa, Victor Xulu, Nqaba Mpofu, Anley Chinnippa, Andrew Perkins, East Springer, Matthew Dennington, Darren Smit, Wayne Madsen, Russel Symcox, Anderson Ndovela

Pietermaritzburg:
Stuart Woodroffe, Yusuf Abdulla, Davelin Samanathan, Ryan Rosenberg, Victor Walker-Randall, John Anderson, Trevor Kunda, Tsia Essack

© KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union