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Development Program. |
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The national
development programme has been a priority of the United Cricket Board of South
Africa since its inception in 1991. In 1986 the South African Cricket Union started
the current programme which has gained momentum since unity. The development
programme now plays an integral part in the lives of tens of thousands of South
African children throughout the country. Tribute must be paid to the former South
African Cricket Board who managed to foster and develop the game despite sparse
facilities and meagre funding.The main aim of the development programme has always been to bring the game to as many people as possible. It is hard to imagine a better advertisement for cricket than Paul Adams, who has provided delight and inspiration to South African youngsters of all races. Within a few matches, he rose from a junior player to become, at 18 years of age, the youngest player to be selected for South Africa, and his unorthodox action turned him into an overnight international sensation. Although Adams's success is primarily due to his phenomenal and unique natural talent, his rise through the ranks after leaving school was accelerated by coaching academies which form an essential part of the development programme. Adams has become a household name with his easy smile and ability to rise to the big occasion, prompting President Nelson Mandela to rate his as one of the most important individual efforts towards reconciliation and nation-building in South Africa. Paul Adams's emergence into international cricket coincides with a new era for the development programme, which now has more than 50 youngsters playing provincial cricket at Colts and A and B section levels. This is in addition to the more than 100 players from the development ranks who, in a single season, have represented their provinces at the national U13, U15 PG Bison and U18 Coca-Cola Weeks. The recent Coca-Cola South African U19 tour to India provided another showpiece for the development programme, with Ashwell Prince, Makhaya Ntini, Tulani Ngxoweni and Eugene Moleon all providing match-winning performances. Prince and Ntini have since gone on to represent Eastern Province and Border respectively. Moleon, a fast bowler and sprint champion from Western Province, has been selected by the United Cricket Board to follow Transvaal's Geoffrey Toyana at the MCC's Youth Programme at Lord's. Toyana finished as one of the leading run-scorers in a programme that produced international cricket stars such as Ian Botham and Steve Waugh. Five development players - Malibongwe Maketa, Omar Abrahams, Zelton Bruiners, Berton de Wet and Dumisa Makalima - were chosen for the PG Bison U15 tour to England in 1996. Three other development youngsters - Junaid September (EP), Karabo Balepile (Tvl) and Winston Fortuin (Boland) - were the latest United Cricket Board nominees in the Devon League in the United Kingdom. All this success at provincial and international level has come as a result of hard work and dedication by the United Cricket Board's 11 development managers, headed by national development directors, Khaya Majola and Hoosain Ayob, national development coach, Conrad Hunte and assisted by Giuliana Bland. The development programme is built on three major pillars. These are facilities, competition and coaching, and training of coaches.
An innovation this year was the introduction of the quarterly Bakers Cricket News, which is distributed throughout South Africa and keeps people informed of the latest developments. The Bakers sponsorship now stands at R5-million over three years, and Minister of Sport Steve Tshwete had this to say of it at a media conference: "The Bakers cricket sponsorship is the biggest private-sector sponsorship for sport development in South Africa, and Bakers Biscuits are to be congratulated for the long and on-going commitment to the development of disadvantaged youth."
The provision of facilities in disadvantaged communities remains one of the biggest priorities of the United Cricket Board. The main source of income for these projects comes from a 20 percent levy on gate takings from international matches in South Africa and so far 11 multi-purpose sports complexes have been built through this funding. One of the recently completed complexes is in Soweto, where the first first-class match ever held in a township took place when Hansie Cronje captained an Invitation XI against Mike Atherton's English tourists. One of the highlights of the development programme this past year was a visit by President Mandela to the Soweto match. More recently, the United Cricket Board of South Africa announced the completion of over 150 new concrete pitches and practice nets nation-wide. These new pitches are sponsored by PPC Cement and are situated in areas where communities have never had the facilities to play cricket. They will provide social upliftment and a better quality of life. Concrete was chosen as it offers a consistent bounce, and its durability means that facilities will require little maintenance. John Gomersall, Group MD of PPC, says that "business and life are all about teamwork. Cricket teaches youngsters the importance of working together to achieve an end goal. There can be no more important task than imparting this valuable life skill to our future generations, and what better way than through sport? It's all about developing winning people in winning communities and, through them, the development of a winning nation," he concludes. A spin-off of this programme was the development of local contractors who were invited to tender for the construction of the pitches. Basic concrete technology and technical assistance was provided by PPC, and the skills imparted will allow the trainees to have basic construction skills, including laying of concrete slabs for foundations, driveways and other uses.
Other activitiesThe development programme is also playing a key role in spreading the cricket gospel in Africa, and assistance from South Africa has been given to Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda and Namibia. South Africa also recently - and successfully - hosted the African Zone VI tournament in Pretoria, at which the African Cricket Association was formed under the presidency of UCB's president, Krish Mackerdhuj. Another significant UCB appointment was that of Dr Ali Bacher as the first chairman of an ICC development committee whose mandate is to globalise cricket. The best summary of the development programme came from Sir Clyde Walcott, chairman of the International Cricket Council: "This programme by the United Cricket Board of South Africa is unprecedented in world cricket in its scope and quality." |
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Bakers Mini
Cricket forms the foundation of the development programme. It began as a small
regional sponsorship as far back as 1982, and has since provided an easy entry
into the joys of cricket for innumerable children. It now boasts structured
competitions throughout the country. Over 12 000 bats, 17 000 balls, 5000 stumps
and 30 000 T-shirts are distributed to disadvantaged communities in the Bakers
Mini Cricket programme, and street cricket has become a familiar sight in the
townships. Conrad Hunte has used Bakers Mini Cricket to excellent effect in
re-introducing girls' and women's cricket to South Africa, and he is hard at work
producing a national team for next season's Women's World Cup.
The English tourists in action at the Soweto Cricket Oval
Another significant innovation has been the introduction of
Standard Bank as the official sponsor of South African limited-overs cricket.
Standard Bank has also extended its support to development, and will sponsor the
national U12 and U13 cricket Weeks, as well as providing scoreboards at numerous
playing fields in disadvantaged communities, especially in rural areas.
