The Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Week begins in Cape Town on Sunday. It features 16 under-19 teams – the 15 Cricket South Africa provinces and Namibia – and continues until Thursday, writes THEO GARRUN.
On Friday the SA Schools teams will play against an SA Colts team in the annual Coca-Cola Challenge match.
Three formats of the game will feature: time (declaration) cricket, T20 and 50 overs limited overs cricket. The week is nominally a festival, with no official winner, but the organisers do arrange the eight matches on the final day according to what they see as a strength vs strength formula, with the top two sides meeting at Newlands in the unofficial final.
Gauteng, now called the Central Gauteng Lions, are the defending champions, on that basis, and they have been the most successful team at the week in recent years. The hosts, Western Province, will no doubt be looking to end that and, at home, they are very capable of doing that.
They have in their ranks Jonathan Bird, the batting star of the SA under-19 team that went to England in July, and quick bowler Thando Ntini, now in his third Coke Week and of whom much is expected.
The Lions are even more experienced. They have four players from last year’s successful team back: Jacob Miltz, Jarred Jardine, Emmanuel Motswiri and Kgaudise Molefe. Miltz, Jardine and Molefe went to England with the SA under-19s and they are joined by Bryce Parsons, last year’s U17 player of the year, who was in the U19 squad but didn’t make the final cut.
There are a number of other members of that greater U19 squad in action in Cape Town this week. They include KZN Coastal’s Matthew Montgomery and Lifa Ntanzi; Mondli Khumalo of KZN Inland; Pheko Moletsane and Ruan Cronje of Free State, Boland’s Archille Cloete and the North West twins, Duane and Marco Jansen.
The fixtures for the first three days have been announced. The matchups for the last two days are made as the week progresses. The games are:
Sunday 16th December (time cricket)
Central Gauteng vs KZN Coastal
Boland vs E Province.
Northerns vs KZN Inland
W Province vs Border
Free State vs Easterns
SWD vs Northwest
Namibia vs Limpopo
Mpumalanga vs N Cape
Monday 17th December (time cricket)
Central Gauteng vs Border
Boland vs KZM inland
Northerns vs W Province
E Provonce vs KZN Coastal
Free State vs Mpumalanga
SWD vs Namibia
Easterns vs N Cape
Northwest vs Limpopo
Border vs N Cape
Tuesday 18th December (T20 games)
Morning
Central Gauteng vs Free State
Boland vs SWD
Northerns vs Namibia
E Province vs Mpumalanga
KZN Coastal vs Easterns
W Province vs Northwest
KZN Inland vs Limpoo
Border vs N Cape
Afternoon
Central Gauteng vs Easterns
Boland vs Northwest
Northerns vs Limpopo
E Province vs N Cape
KZN Coastal vs Free State
W Province vs SWD
KZN Inland vs SWD
Border vs Mpumalanga
Photo: Theo Garrun
