{"id":88608,"date":"2026-01-23T05:45:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T03:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=88608"},"modified":"2026-01-23T05:45:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T03:45:04","slug":"player-profile-francois-prins-boland-landbou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=88608","title":{"rendered":"Player Profile: Francois Prins (Boland Landbou)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Francois Prins at a Boland Cricket awards ceremony. Photo: Supplied by Handr\u00f3 le Roux.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – From the play Twelfth Night<\/strong><\/em>, by William Shakespeare<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Boland Landbou’s<\/strong> star captain and batting all-rounder, Francois Prins<\/strong>, was only 14 years of age when fate set him on the path to a great school’s cricket career.<\/p>\n

The Farmers’ <\/strong><\/em>Head Coach, Handr\u00f3 le Roux<\/strong>, recalled: “In September of 2022, we had an injury occur only a few days before our first pre-season fixture. We had to select Francois despite not having seen him play much. It was a big jump, and he ended up making a duck on his debut.<\/p>\n

“Obviously, I was left unimpressed. However, we kept him in the first team setup because I had a gut feeling that he was a natural-born cricketer; after all, it was the only thing that he talked about.”<\/p>\n

Based on first impressions, one might not have expected Prins to become the player that he is now. He has come a long way since his debut and now boasts 124 caps for the Paarl school, making him the most capped player in the school’s history.<\/p>\n

In December, he scored a century for the Boland u19 team at the 2025 Khaya Majola Week in Bloemfontein<\/strong>,<\/a> and went on to be included in the SA Schools side<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Francois, or “Skollie”<\/strong><\/em>, to his peers and teachers, found his first game of cricket to be similar to his debut innings for the 1st XI.<\/p>\n

“My earliest memory of cricket was from when I was about eight years old. It all started when I was selected for the u11 team at my primary school, where I played my first hard-ball match.<\/p>\n

“Something I will never forget is that I was dismissed without scoring a run. Through the tears and disappointment, I realised that this is what I wanted to pursue one day. That is where my passion and love for the game started.”<\/p>\n

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A younger Prins and his coach, Handr\u00f3 le Roux. Photo: Supplied by Handr\u00f3 le Roux.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prins is intensely passionate – a characteristic synonymous with strong leaders.<\/p>\n

Coach Le Roux shared how the captain’s passion influences those who play under his guidance: “He is a great team player, making him well-liked by his teammates and peers in school.<\/p>\n

“He brings a lot of discipline and balance to our setup, as well as the change room, classroom and boarding house. He is always keen for a good laugh, but knows where to draw the line between having fun and getting the serious work done.”<\/p>\n

When asked about his plans over the next five years, Prins made it clear to SuperSport Schools Plus<\/strong><\/a> that his studies and cricket are his main ambitions.<\/p>\n

“Right now, my main goal is to finish my matric year, and then hopefully have the marks required to enter university.<\/p>\n

“In terms of cricket, I hope to start reaching into the professional setup. I would love to make a living out of playing cricket.”<\/p>\n

His story is a lesson about not being afraid of failure. The beginning of a story usually reveals little about its ending, but within Francois Prins’s story, his fighting spirit and his courage hold lessons for others.<\/p>\n

Former Springboks’<\/strong> Head Coach, Jacques Nienaber<\/strong>, just before the 2023 Rugby World Cup<\/strong> final, told his players:\u00a0“Considering where some of you have started life, the chances are that you shouldn’t have been here. But you changed that script in your own life.<\/p>\n

“Don’t let that change now. Don’t let anybody write your life story for you.<\/p>\n

“Continue to show the world who you are, continue to write the story yourself.”<\/p>\n

It’s as if Francois Prins heard that speech, took note, vowed to live by it, and has diligently stuck to it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – From the play Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare. Boland Landbou’s star captain and batting all-rounder, Francois Prins, was only 14 years of age when fate set him on the path to a great school’s cricket […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":89066,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=88608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/89066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}