Rain affected play again on the third day of the under-19
Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Cricket week currently underway in Durban, with all T-20
morning games having to be called. But some games did start and a player from
Mpumalanga, Daniel Griesel, who is making waves with his consistent fine form
this year, managed to notch up 39 runs not out, off 36 balls before rain
stopped play in their game against Eastern Province.
The Mpumalanga wicketkeeper/batsman contributes his success
to his philosophy of the game which is that cricket is a simple game and it
doesn’t pay to make it complicated.
“When the ball is there, hit it, is my philosophy,” he says.
The upshot was 109 runs off 104 balls with 10 fours and four sixes against
Griquas on Tuesday, to go with his 48 off 25 balls, with 10 fours against SWD
on day one. Daniel is the leading run scorer of the tournament so far.
Daniel just finished grade 11 and this is his first
Coca-Cola Khaya Majola cricket week. He is big and muscular looking more like a
rugby player than a cricketer, but his passion is in cricket and doesn’t play
rugby anymore.
In last year’s national under-17 tournament he notched up
scores of 109 and 33 not out against Limpopo and 50 against Western Province.
He says he is enjoying the tournament and likes the fact
that he is the leading run scorer so far but he does not have any expectations.
He would like to make the SA Schools team and go to the under-19 World Cup next
year in Dubai but that’s just a dream for the moment and not something that he
expects to do.
“Mpumalanga is a small province so we are not expected to do
well,” he says. “I hope my team can beat one of the stronger teams in the week
to show that we can be dangerous and should be taken seriously.”
Daniel played rugby as an outside centre, and started
cricket as a bowling all rounder. When he was under-14 he chipped a bone in his
hip and tore the ligaments in his knee. That meant the end of his rugby career
and he also found that bowling hurt his knee and hip, so had to stop. He
concentrated on batting from then onwards and has managed to specialize in the
discipline.
He found he cannot keep still in the field, so he took up
wicket keeping and has become quite good at that too.
Daniel comes from a proud and successful sporting
family. His mother, Sunett Griesel, played action cricket for South
Africa. She was in the team that went to the World Cup in New Zealand. His
father Bertus Griesel played action cricket for Mpumalanga and his brother
played in the Mpumalanga Coca-Cola Craven Week rugby team in 2011. He captained
the team as a flank.
Morning T20 Scores
Free State vs Boland
Free State 25/4 (Botha 3/8) game abandoned
Limpopo vs Border
Limpopo 27/2 (Sigwili 2/9) game abandoned
Mpumalanga vs Eastern Province
Mpumalanga 122/6 in 20 overs (Griesel 39*Carlisle 23,
Manjezi 3/9) game abandoned
Easterns vs Northerns
Easterns 122/7 in 20 overs (Germishuizen 67, Rasemene 2/6)
game abandoned
KZN Inland vs Griqualand West
KZN Inland 51/0 (Mahmoud 27*, van Wymeersch 16*) game
abandoned
KZN Coastal vs SWD
KZN Coastal 74/6 (Naidoo 22*, Phehlukwayo 21*,
Oberholzer 3/3) game abandoned
Western province vs North West
Western Province 26/0 (Fortuin 16*) game abandoned
Gauteng vs Namibia
Namibia 29/2 (Kruger 23*) game abandoned
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