Thursday, March 14, 2019

Who will be the 2019 Coca-Cola Schools T20 Challenge Champions?

Eight of South Africa’s top cricketing schools will battle it out at the Coca-Cola® T20 Schools Challenge at the University of Pretoria (High Performance Centre) from the 15th – 17th March, to witness the winning team crowned the top T20 cricket school in the country.

This year the six South African franchises will be represented by St Andrews School (Knights), St Andrews College (Warriors), St Charles (Dolphins), St Stithians (Lions), Waterkloof (Titans) and Paarl Gimnasium (Cobras). In addition to the franchise teams, the two Cricket South Africa(CSA) focus schools will be Hudson Park High School (Coastal Focus School and Queens High School (Inland Focus School).

This year’s National Finals will also see the Coca-Cola® All-Star team initiative making a return.  During the Franchise phase, Proteas legend Paul Harris selected an All-Star Team to spread the talent search wider and provide the selected players with an opportunity to be part of the national finals.

Last year’s Coca-Cola All-Star team included the current SA U19 captain, Matthew Montgomery, that played against the Cricket South Africa hub side as a curtain raiser to the national final. Similarly, this year the Coca-Cola T20 All-Star team will take on a CSA Development Hub team. This will allow for an opportunity to create new memories on and off the field.

Puso Makume, Coca-Cola Sponsorship Manager says, “We wish all teams the best of luck as they take part in the competition. Coca-Cola Schools T20 Schools Challenge has seen several Proteas and franchise players that have participated in the tournament and it is evident that the tournament has been successful in identifying talent. We remain committed and dedicated to the development of future cricket heroes and proud to be part of the contribution we’ve made in the identification and preparation of our next cricket heroes.”

CSA CEO Thabang Moroe says, “The Coca-Cola Schools T20 Challenge can be regarded as our version of the FA Cup as it potentially gives every school the chance to compete first for provincial, then franchise and finally National honours. I congratulate not only those schools that made it through to the finals weekend but to all our schools who have taken part.

Obviously, the aim of CSA is to broaden the depth of our cricket which at the moment is dominated by our traditional schools as we go about our vision of making the game accessible to all. There have been some heartening developments here with two focus schools qualifying to play alongside the franchise champions in the finals weekend.

Our thanks to Coca-Cola who have been loyal sponsors of our Youth cricket throughout our existence.”

Names of the captains in the picture:
Back left to right: Guy Rushmere (St Andrews College Grahamstown), Johan Smal (Hoerskool Paarl Gimnasium), Matthew Lieberman (St Stithians College), Corne Viljoen (St Andrews School Bloemfontein)
Front left to right: Nonela Yikha (Hudson Park High School), Wessley Madhervre (St Charles College), Proteas legend Paul Harris, Amogelang Sima (Queens High School), Jordan Hermann (Hoerskool Waterkloof)

The previous winners of the tournament are:
2010 - Menlo Park
2011 - Waterkloof
2012 - Paarl Boys High
2013 - Rondebosch
2014 - St Stithians
2015 - Menlo Park
2016 - St Stithians
2017 - St Stithians
2018 - St Andrew’s School

FIXTURES

POOL A                                             POOL B                
St Andrews (Knights)                                      St Charles (Dolphins)                        
Hudson Park (Coastal Focus)                         St Andrews (Warriors)                     
St Stithians (Lions)                                          Waterkloof (Titans)                          
Paarl Gim (Cobras)                                          Queens (Inland Focus)

FRIDAY MORNING 9:30 - 12:30
Paarl Gim (Cobras) vs Hudson Park (Coastal Focus)   
St Charles (Dolphins) vs St Andrews (Warriors)          
St Andrews (Knights) vs St Stithians (Lions)  
Waterkloof (Titans) vs Queens (Inland Focus)

FRIDAY AFTERNOON 14:00 - 17:00                                                            
St Stithians (Lions) vs Paarl Gim (Cobras)
St Andrews (Warriors) vs Queens (Inland Focus)
St Andrews (Knights) vs Hudson Park (Coastal Focus)
St Charles (Dolphins) vs Waterkloof (Titans)

SATURDAY MORNING 9:30 - 12:30                                                           
Hudson Park (Coastal Focus) vs St Stithians (Lions)
St Charles (Dolphins) vs  Queens (Inland Focus)
St Andrews (Knights) vs Paarl Gim (Cobras)
Waterkloof (Titans) vs St Andrews (Warriors)

SATURDAY AFTERNOON 14:00 - 17:00                                                                    
Cross Pool Matches will be decided after the morning fixtures

SUNDAY MORNING 9:30 - 12:30                                                               
Cross Pool Matches will be decided after the Saturday morning fixtures
Coca-Cola All-Star Team vs CSA Selection side             Main Oval            
                             
SUNDAY AFTERNOON 14:00 - 17:00                                                                        
1st A vs 1st B          Main Oval                                                         

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