Cricket South Africa’s Nursery of Excellence, the Khaya Majola Week, kicks off at Michaelhouse in KwaZulu-Natal

The 2019 Khaya Majola Cricket will be played in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands from December 16th to 20th. It will hosted by the KZN Inland Schools Cricket Union and based at Michaelhouse School in Balgowan.

This is the 26^th time the week is being staged since the unification of South African Cricket in 1994, although the tournament has been running, in various guises since 1940.

It has never been hosted by KZN Midlands before, although it has been in that part of the country before, most recently in 2013 when Kearsney College was the venue. That week will be remembered for the one at which Kagiso Rabada announced himself and, five years later he was the number one bowler in the world. South Africa won the 2014 ICC under-19 World Cup, with the majority of the players in their ranks, having appeared at the Khaya Majola Week the year before. Rabada was the undoubted star of the week, along with Aiden Markram who, ironically, did not play in the Khaya Majola Week.

That fact emphasizes the importance of the Khaya Majola Week as a nursery of international cricketers, while making the important point that missing selection at this level is not the end of the world for a young cricketer.

That said, the record shows that the majority of Protea players in the various formats of the game who have been capped since 1994 played at the week and just about every one of the team currently in action against England appeared there.

In all 91 graduates of the week have gone on the represent the country including the most recent crop - Anrich Nortje, George Linde, Zubayr Hamza, Bjorn Fortuin, Senuran Muthusamy, Sinethemba Qeshile and Lutho Sipamla.

Whereas the majority of South African Schools players have come from a relatively small number of schools – the top three are Grey High School (24), Grey College (16) and King Edward VII School (15) – the picture is changing as Cricket South Africa’s efforts to transform the sport and provide opportunities to all players begin to bear fruit.

The talent development pipeline has been widened though the establishment of Regional Performance Centres (RPCs) and Development Hubs in rural areas and through the designation of schools where potential has been identified but who are struggling as CSA Focus Schools who receive assistance from the association.

Players emerging from those structures are being picked up by the mainstream cricketing schools and are being offered bursaries, and are being included in CSA’s talent acceleration programmes.

East London’s Hudson Park High School is a Focus School that is making an impact. Nine SA Schools players have come from the school since 2014, putting them 9^th on the list of schools producing SA Schools caps. Sinethemba Qeshile, selected for the Proteas T20 team in 2019, is a product of the school.

There are graduates of the talent acceleration programme in many of the teams who will be in action at Michaelhouse this year and, no doubt, many of them are destined for higher honours.

The games begin on Monday December 16th and continue until Friday the 20^th. On Saturday the 21^st the SA Schools team will play the SA Colts in a T20 game.

The full list of Proteas players who have come through the Khaya Majola Week since 1994 is:

1 Neil McKenzie, 2 Zander de Bruyn, 3 Mark Boucher, 4 Nantie Hayward, 5 Makhaya Ntini, 6 David Terbrugge, 7 Loots Bosman, 8 Victor Mpitsang, 9 Boeta Dippenaar, 10 Johan van der Wath, 11 Jacques Rudolph, 12 Mfuneko Ngam, 13 Justin Ontong, 14 Robin Peterson, 15 Jon Kent, 16 Albie Morkel, 17 Graeme Smith, 18 Johan Botha, 19 Monde Zondeki, 20 Ashwen Prince, 21 Thami Tsolekile, 22 Johan Louw, 23 Justin Kemp, 24 Alviro Petersen, 25 Garnett Kruger, 26 Andre Nel, 27 Dewald Pretorius, 28 Friedel De Wet, 29 Dale Steyn, 30 Hashim Amla, 31 JP Duminy, 32 AB de Villiers, 34 Morne Morkel, 35 Ryan McLaren, 36 Rory Kleinveldt, 37 Vernon Philander, 38 Morne Van Wyk, 39 Andrew Puttick, 40 Richard Levi, 41 Faf du Plessis, 42 Colin Ingram, 43 Roelof Van der Merwe, 44 Vaughn Van Jaarsveld, 45 Imraan Kahn, 46 Wayne Parnell, 47 Rusty Theron, 48 Lonwabo Tsotsobe, 49 David Miller, 50 Dean Elgar, 51 Kyle Abbott, 52 Quinton de Kock, 53 Henry Davids, 54 Marchant de Lange, 55 Aaron Phangiso, 56 Farhaan Berhadien, 57 Dewald Pretorius, 58 Stiaan Van Zyl, 59 Dane Piedt, 60 Bueran Hendricks, 61 Rilee Rossouw, 62 Simon Harmer, 63 David Wiese, 64 Mthokozi Shezi, 65 Reeza Hendricks, 66 Kagiso Rabada, 67 Dane Villas, 68 Temba Bavuma, 69 Eddie Leie, 70 Chris Morris, 71 Tabriaz Shamsi, 72 Andile Phuhlukwayo, 73 Keshav Maharaj, 74 Dwaune Pretorius, 75 Heino Kuhn, 76 Dane Paterson, 77 Duanne Olivier, 78 Magasilo Moshele, 79 Jon Jon Smuts, 80 Lungi Ngidi, 81 Theunis de Bruyn, 82 Wiaan Mulder, 83 Khaya Zondo, 84 Gihahn Cloete, 85 Rassie Van Dussen, 86 Anrich Nortje, 87 George Linde, 88 Zubayr Hamza, 89 Bjorn Fortuin, 90 Senuran Muthusamy, 91 Sinethemba Qeshile, 92 Lutho Sipamla.

Women's Month profile: KFC Mini-Cricket coordinator Mercia Baaitjies

When Mercia Baaitjies, the KwaZulu-Natal Inland provincial coordinator for the KFC Mini-Cricket programme was runnerup for the coordinator of the year in 2016 it was testament to her passion for the game, and for working with children, and also to her exceptional planning and organizational ability.

Earlier in the year she had some personal problems due to giving birth to twins, prematurely, but she had matters well in hand and her long term planning allowed the programme to run smoothly even while she was in hospital. And on the day that she got out, she popped in to her local KFC Mini-Cricket Provincial festival to make sure that it was running smoothly.

Mercia’s involvement in cricket began in the Eastern Cape. When she was younger she played for the Eastern Province women’s cricket side and she always saw herself working for a sporting union and with famous people.

Then, in 2008 her family moved to Port Elizabeth and she was looking for a job. She saw an advert for a receptionist at the Eastern Province Cricket Board. She applied and got the job and did so well that they soon included the administration of Mini-Cricket to her portfolio.

In 2010 KFC took over the sponsorship of KFC Mini-Cricket and together with Cricket South Africa, they decided to appoint dedicated provincial coordinators at all the unions and Mercia was appointed the Eastern Province KFC Mini-Cricket coordinator.

She was there until June 2013 when SA Cricket offered her the position to run the KwaZulu-Natal office as their Inland KFC Mini-Cricket Provincial Coordinator.

So, she moved to Pietermaritzburg with her husband, who managed to get a transfer from his company, and her 5 year-old son.

She soon found that working in KZN was completely different to Port Elizabeth. Many of the schools are in remote rural areas and e-mail communication was not as easy as it was in the Eastern Cape.

She has to visit the schools and build face-to-face relationships with the people responsible for KFC Mini-Cricket in the KZN Inland region. Sibonelo Ncobo, who ran the region before her, was very helpful initially. He introduced her to the teachers at some of the schools in the area, and she soon learned that she would have to change the way that she did things to be more effective in her new province.

Since she took over in the area she has learned a lot and has grown the programme considerably, incorporating schools that never played cricket before.

Mercia believes her greatest strength is her ability to plan ahead. She is a very structured and well organized person and she has already got her plans for the 2017/18 season in place.

“To become a good KFC Mini-Cricket Provincial coordinator you need to be patient,” she says. “You need a positive attitude, you need to love people, you need to manage your time correctly and you need to be flexible.

“Through the programme I have learned to be patient, to manage my time and to listen to people.”

Mercia’s husband and her kids are very supportive. They understand the demands on her and are willing to go to the KFC Mini-Cricket events that she organizes to help her run them.

Her career highlights so far are definitely last season as the coordinator of the year and that she is so organized that she was asked to assist KwaZulu-Natal coastal to run their KFC Mini-Cricket Kids vs Proteas match in Umlazi.