Cricket development programme aims to produce new stars

The pain of defeat in Saturday’s Cricket World Cup final may still be fresh in memory but preparations are already under way to ensure it’s not repeated when SA hosts the next ICC world event in three years’ time.

The seven-run loss to India in Barbados in the final of the T20 World Cup meant that in a period of just over a year, two SA sides fell short of annexing the coveted trophy for the first time – after the Proteas’ women side also suffered a T20 World Cup final defeat to Australia at home last year.

Both teams breaking the semifinal barrier for the first time, after previous known struggles, was an indication that development structures which have been in place for years were finally bearing fruit, said Andra Nel, marketing manager for brand at KFC, who sponsors the mini-cricket programme.

A seminar on that programme is being held in Hermanus, Western Cape, this week, with dozens of development coaches and other stakeholders in attendance. They were joined by current Proteas players Andile Phehlukwayo and Rassie van der Dussen yesterday as well as Lara Goodall and Mignon du Preez from the women's side.

“Our aim is to create the next generation of Proteas and we’ve succeeded in some way because 75% of the women Proteas started with mini-cricket,” Nel said, naming Makhaya Ntini and Paul Adams as some of the male players who came through the initiative as well.

“We want to enhance the programme to be in line with the 2027 World Cup which we will host. We want to expand the reach to areas which we have not been able to touch before.”

The programme now encompasses over 120,000 kids from ages six to 15, enabling them to get specialised coaching at an early age.

It has now partnered with the foundation of Springbok skipper Siya Kolisi. “Kolisi’s story is familiar to most children in the country. When you ask him about nutrition in his early days, he can’t answer that because he didn’t even know what nutrition is. We have partnered with him because he has walked this journey, and that will help us identify the issues in communities related to nurturing up-and-coming stars.

“Every R2 donated to our Add Hope campaign will be going to the Siya Kolisi Foundation this month. Kolisi has done work with us before in Zwide (a Gqeberha township), where he comes from and we want to expand on that,” Nel said.

The seminar concludes tomorrow.