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Akhona Mnyaka is savouring the opportunity to display his talent for the Coca-Cola South Africa under-19s at this year’s ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. The 18-year old from Mdantsane in East London hopes that the tournament will open further doors at its conclusion in early February.

It seems already being the youngest player to be drafted the Global T20 League is not enough, Mnyaka has even higher aspirations.

“The goal for any sportsman is to reach the highest honours that are out there and for me, that’s to represent my country in the Proteas team,” he said. “Everything else is great, it’s a push in the right direction, but I hope I can do a good enough job here to show selectors and everyone out there that I’m a good player and that I am good enough to earn a call up (to the Proteas) someday soon.”

The 12th edition of the World Cup begins tomorrow, but South Africa will make their first appearance against Kenya in Christchurch on Sunday. Mnyaka believes that the tournament is a good platform for youngsters to put their hands up and be counted among the country’s best players.

“You can see just by how many guys who have gone from an U19 World Cup and made the Proteas team that this is a very big stage that we are going to be playing on,” he continued. “Guys like Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock and Wayne Parnell made their way into the national team pretty quickly after playing SA U19 in a World Cup. It just goes to show how big this occasion really is. Your life could change for the better in a matter of months if you keep playing hard.”

The young South Africans were found wanting in their warm-up match against India, suffering a 138-run defeat to them earlier this week. Mnyaka does not believe that the team played to its potential that day, but is confident that they have addressed the issues.

“We didn’t play well against India but I think that if we stick to our basics and do what we do best, which is worrying about our own game and not think about the opposition, we will do well in this tournament. I’m not too worried about what happened in that warm-up game because it was exactly that, a warm-up. We know what we need to do and it’s now just a matter of executing the skills we all know that we have.”

South Africa’s match will be streamed on the ICC’s website www.icc-cricket.com, with play starting at 10:30 local time.

Daniel Smith of SACS scored the only century on the opening day of the annual Cape Schools’ Cricket Week. Smith (101*) steered his side to a convincing nine-wicket victory over Noord-Kaap with his unbeaten century.

Noord-Kaap only managed 137 with Kai Curren (2/4) and Athir Fayker (2/25) causing the most damage with the ball in hand for SACS. The team from Kimberley will be strengthened by their three Cubs Week players Juan Mpofu, Andrew Louw and Mason Zacharia who helped the VKB Knights to be crowned undisputed champions of the tournament in Stellenbosch.

Summarised Scorecards:

Garsfontein 59 (Ralff Schmidt 22; Michael Papenfus 4/23, Kieran Williams 3/8, Neil Bekker 2/9); Paarl Boys’ High 63/3 (Theo Louwrens 27; Raynardt van Niekerk 2/6). Paarl Boys’ High won by seven wickets.

Wynberg Boys’ High 253/7 (Cameron Tanner 98, Matthew de Villiers 81, Riaz Palekar 36; Dylan Greeff 2/35); Pretoria Boys’ High 152 (Wisani Mushwana 32, Ryan Joyce 30; Raees Carr 4/22, Matthew Petersen 3/25). Wynberg Boys’ High won by 101 runs.

Waterkloof 235 (MJ Janse van Rensburg 65, Albert Wells 41, Johan Maritz 36; Jordan Collier 3/60, Douglas Cox 2/8); Rondebosch Boys’ High 176/9 (Siyanda Nxangane 42, Lehan Botha 41, Ethan Nates 32*; Tristan du Plessis 2/7, Simeon de Bruyn 2/17). Match drawn.

Noord-Kaap 137 (CJ Mothibi 28; Kai Curran 2/4, Athir Fayker 2/25); SACS 140/1 (Daniel Smith 101*, Robin Aspeling 22*; Joshua Barends 1/26). SACS won by nine wickets.

St John’s College 148/9 (Clayton Pather 35, Shaun Jacobs 26*; Stephan Maree 3/21, Anré Steenkamp 2/13); Paul Roos Gimnasium 150/0 (Ruan Terblanche 90*, Jacques du Toit 51*). Paul Roos Gimnasium won by ten wickets.

Boland Landbou 128/8 (Marais Schutte 46*, Extras 32; Jonathan Zinn 2/30). Noordheuwel. Game abandoned.

Paarl Gimnasium 303 (Jacques Marais 56, Gareth Wolmarans 54, Juan Wilson 53, Corné Grobler 49, Jeandré Burger 37); Northcliff 145 (Wilhelm Best 4/28, Floors Brand 2/18, Pieter Rossouw 2/32). Paarl Gimnasium won by 158 runs.

The Lions are back to their winning ways at the tenth annual Cricket South Africa’s Cubs Week in Stellenbosch.

The Lions eased past the Warriors by nine wickets on the second day of the tournament. It was also a victory by ten wickets, but Bryce Parsons (65) lost his wicket just before his side bagged the victory.

Parsons and SA Schools’ opening batsman Joshua Richards (83*) shared an opening partnership of 154 runs before the former was run-out. Richards struck eight fours and three sixes as the Lions only needed 25 overs to secure the victory.

The real hero on the day was however the opening bowler Curtis Campher who asked too much questions to the Warriors batsmen. Campher removed seven batsmen from the crease for a mere 26 runs. He had the Warriors struggling at 48/7 after his opening spell. The first seven wickets also included a run-out. He bagged his final wicket by rearranging Neo Pepeta’s (0) stumps to bring a end to the Warriors’ innings.

It was only the Warriors’ Sinethemba Qeshile (61) who managed to keep the Lions’ bowling attack at bay. He however did get some support from Cole Schoeman (37*).

The Knights followed up their historic victory of the first day over the Lions with another top victory over the Titans. Calvin Flanegan (83*) and opening batsman Dilivio Ridgard (55) laid the foundation for the victory with a fourth wicket partnership of 94 runs. The Knights won the came by one wicket.

The Titans’ opening batsman Francois van Heerden (66) recorded his second half-century of the tournament.

The Dolphins also kept their unbeaten record in tact by beating the Cape Cobras by seven wickets in Pniel. Sean Gilson (5/7) was the main destroyer with his spin bowling as the Cobras was restricted to 165. Gilson bowled 7.2 overs of which three were maidens.

He also added a valuable 33 runs with the bat after his exceptional bowling performance. The Dolphins’ best batsman on the day Thamsanqa Khumalo (43*) had to retire hurt.

Summarised Scorecards:

Warriors 164 (Sinethemba Qeshile 61, Cole Schoeman 37*; Curtis Campher 7/26); Lions 165/1 (Joshua Richards 83*, Bryce Parsons 65). Lions won by nine wickets.

Titans 191/7 (Francois van Heerden 66, Musawenkosi Twala 43*; Donald Machalotsa 2/31, Mason Zacharea 2/38); Knights 192/9 (Calvin Flanegan 83*, Dilivio Ridgard 55; Sibusiso Maseko 3/30, Gideon Peters 3/48). Knights won by one wicket.

Cape Cobras 165 (Jonathan Bird 75, Samuel Henderson 46; Sean Gilson 5/7; Khwezi Gumede 2/28); Dolphins 166/3 (Thamsanqa Khumalo 43*, Sean Gilson 33, Matthew Montgomery 29, Matthew Pollard 26*). Dolphins won by seven wickets.

The opening day of the tenth edition of Cricket South Africa’s Cubs Week in Stellenbosch belonged to the underdogs.

The three top teams at the tournament the Lions, Cape Cobras and Titans all suffered defeats against the three underdogs of the tournament.

The early favourites to bag the title, the Lions, lost against the Knights. The 11-run victory was a historic moment for the Knights who have never managed to defeat the most successful team in the history of the tournament.

Ad to that the fact that the Lions had three SA Schools’ players in Joshua Richards, Curtis Campher and Jacob Miltz in their midst while none of the Knights players made any of the national representative teams after the Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Week in Johannesburg at the end of last year.

Richards (71) and Campher (27) managed to recover the Lions innings a bit, but Richards needed to bat through if his side was to pull this one through.

The Lions needed 12 runs from the last two overs thanks to some big hitting by Reabetswe Mokgoro (20, 20b) in the 48th over. Brian Kershaw (4/28) however got rid of him with the help of wicketkeeper, Garnett Tarr, in the 49th over to secure the victory.
Tarr (82) also played a leading role with the bat with some patient batting on the slow wicket of Maties’ C-field.

The Dolphins’ Matthew Montgomery (105) recorded the only century on the opening day in his side’s 62-run victory over the Titans. Montgomery faced 135 deliveries in his innings of which he dispatched 11 past the boundary rope with three of them being maximums.

He shared a 105-run partnership with James Ritchie (67*) over the fifth wicket. Montgomery was also one of the in-form batsmen during the Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Week with 246 runs at an average of 41 runs per innings.

The Warriors secured a four vwickets victory over the Cape Cobras thanks to an unbeaten half-century by Matt Dewar (57*). Dewar and Luke Beaufort (42) combined for a valuable 64-run partnership over the fifth wicket.

Both the Warriors’ SA Schools batsmen, David Rushmere (20) and Sinethemba Qeshile (1), was already back in the changeroom with the team struggling at 57/4 chasing 183 when these two joined forces.

Summarised Scorecards:

Knights 201/8 (Garnett Tarr 82, Marx de Villiers 28; Bryce Parsons 2/24); Lions 190 (Joshua Richards 71, Curtis Campher 27; Brian Kershaw 4/28). Knights won by 11 runs.

Cape Cobras 182 (Justin Broad 67, Sinalo Gobeni 33; Matt Dewar 2/12, Siphamandla Krweqe 2/31); Warriors 183/6 (Matt Dewar 57*, Luke Beaufort 42, Extras 29; Sinalo Gobeni 2/20, Achille Cloete 2/42). Warriors won by four wickets.

Dolphins 261/5 (Matthew Montgomery 105, James Ritchie 67*, Thamsanqa Khumalo 46; Glen Groenewald 1/15); Titans 199/8 (Francois van Heerden 60, Glen Groenewald 38, Nico van Zyl 28*; Sean Gilson 2/32, James Ritchie 2/38). Dolphins won by 62 runs.

The 6th annual Jeppe High School for Boys Rhino Rugby Under-16 Rugby Festival will take place from 29th March to 2nd April 2018.

Jeppe old boy, ex-teacher and World Cup winning Springbok coach, Jake White is the patron of the event and he will be in attendance over the weekend. “I am honoured to be involved in this initiative which supports the development of Rugby and our future rugby stars, in such a direct and tangible way”, he said.

Eighteen schools will be represented, with 450 boys and 50 coaches and managers participating over the weekend.

While there are a number of 1st team rugby festivals each year, the under-16 age group is not as well served. This is the only inland under-16 festival, yet the under-16 year is crucial in the preparation of schoolboy rugby players.

Under-16 is the last time in a schoolboy’s rugby career that all players compete with their peers – in open rugby they play with and against players who are older than them – so this is an opportunity for schools to measure themselves against the top schools in the country on an equal footing.

The concept has proved to be popular in the past and the indications are that a bumper crop of the top schools will be in action at the 2018 festival.

The following schools will be playing:

Ben Vorster, Bishops, Florida, Grey High School, Helpmekaar, King Edward VII, Lichtenburg, Golden Lions Invitation XV, Northwood, 
Parktown Boys’ High, Pretoria Boys’ High, Randburg, St Benedict’s College, St Charles College, Zwartkop, Wesvalia, Westville Boys’ High.

The teams will play three matches each: on Thursday, Saturday and Monday, and there will be plenty of opportunities for the players from different schools to mingle and benefit from the experience of participating in a festival.
As the event is a festival format, there are no league points up for grabs and no overall winners.

The fixtures will be announced within the next few weeks.

Results 

Players: Janco Uys, Regardt Roets, Steyn van der Spuy, George Oosthuizen, 

Coaches: Jaco Koch and Jan-Hendrik Hattingh.

Results 

Players:

Results

Players: Dawid Kellerman, Charl Janson,

Coaches: Pieter Rossouw and Helmut Lehmann.