Western Province star goes from SAU19 disappointment to Khaya Majola Hero

Western Province bowler Siyabulela Plaaitjie set aside his disappointment at not making the SA 19 team for the ICC U19 World Cup by playing a match-winning role in Western Province's first win against Gauteng since Potchefstroom in 2012.

When he wasn’t picked he was disappointed and looked for guidance from his mentor at Western Province Cricket, Graham October.

Graham told him that he had two options, the first was to feel sorry for himself and to curl up in bed and cry and the second was to go to the Khaya Majola Week and play the best cricket he can play.

Graham left the decision to Siya because it’s one of his policies is to let the boys in his care make their own decisions.

“Graham is like a father figure to me and he always directs me in the right direction, being left out of the world cup side is a real disappointment. He explained my options and I chose to focus on my game and to make sure that I do well and, hopefully,  make the SA Schools team,’ said Siya.

His earlier performances at the Khaya Majola Week had not been up to his high standards until he faced Gauteng in the traditional clash of the titans at the tournament.

Western Province had not beaten Gauteng at the Khaya Majola Week since the ‘main game’ of 2012. Since then they have lost five finals against Gauteng and it was looking as if they were going to lose again at Michaelhouse on Thursday, until Siya bowled an inspired spell that broke the back of the Gauteng run chase.

Siya has always been a fighter, he comes from a very poor single-parent family in Langa, Cape Town, where his mother tries her very best to give him the opportunities that most boys in that area are not able to get.

Through his cricketing ability, Siya created his own opportunities and was spotted at an early age by Western Province Cricket. He has had many mentors at the union including the current Gauteng coach Siyabonga Sibiya who, even though his team lost to Western Province, was one of the first people to congratulate him for his brilliant effort. He was clearly emotional because he knew what Siya had been through to get this far in life.

Graham October was the most emotional. He ran up to embrace the boy that he knows so well and brought tears to the eyes of many of the spectators on the field.

‘Coach Graham helps me out emotionally, financially and with my cricket. It is awesome to have someone like him in my life, along with the other mentors at Western Province cricket who help me,’ said Siya.

Siya is at Wynberg Boys’ High on a bursary, supported by the Western Province Cricket Union and he is part of a truly South African Western Province team in which privileged kids from schools like Bishops can play as equals with a boy like himself, from Langa and they can be friends.

it’s a story is that Khaya Majola would have loved playing. A testament to his vision for the tournament has been named after him.

Siya and Graeme

Oberholzer's Hat-trick Highlight of Day 3 of the Khaya Majola Week

There have been a number of good performances over the first three days of the 2019/20 Khaya Majola Week and day three’s T20 double-headers served up quite a few of them.

There were 11 50s and 4 four-wicket hauls on the day, but the performance that really stood out was Christiaan Oberholzer’s 5/22 against Limpopo. Not only did he take more wickets than anyone else in one innings during the day but he also took the first hat-trick of the tournament in the process of achieving that feat.

Christian was delighted with his bowling performance. ‘The hat-trick came in the 8^th over. We had a decent total and I decided that I wanted to attack so I asked my captain to bring the field in and let me see if I can get a wicket or two.’

‘My captain backed me and allowed me to place my own field. It took me two balls to take the first wicket, the two batsmen had crossed and with the next ball I took the other set batsman, which applied pressure on the new batsman coming in. The next ball snuck under the bat and hit the batsman’s pad and he was given out LBW.’

Christian is only 17 and this is his first Khaya Majola Week so he did not come with too many personal expectations. His main objective was to enjoy the week and to learn as much as possible from the other players in his team and from his coach. He hopes that he will play again in the week next year.

He struggled a little in the first two games that he played but he thinks that his performance with bat and ball on the third day might be the turning point in his week and he will be able to do far better in the rest of the week.

‘Being an all-rounder gives me an opportunity to do well with both bat and ball. After I took 5 wickets and the hat-trick my confidence was up and I managed make a good score to help my team beat Limpopo by 9 wickets,’ said Christian.

Former Titans and Warriors bowler Rowan Richards adds his experience to the Border Cricket Team at the Khaya Majola Cricket Week.

Singatha Gcilitshana, Shannon Musto and Rowan Richards

Rowan Richards retired from professional cricket in March this year. He was with Easterns at the end, but has played for Border, Northerns, the Titans and the Warriors in his long an illustrious career.

Rowan loves the game of cricket and wants to give back so he is now coaching at Queens High School in Queenstown and even though he is new to the role, he has been called up by the Border Cricket Union to serve as team manager and assistant coach to Shannon Musto and Singatha Gcilitshana at this year’s Khaya Majola Week.

“When Border asked me to assist I jumped at the opportunity,” he said. “I never played in this week as a youngster so I’m very excited to take part this year.”

He feels that he has a lot to give to the boys and he serves as an example of someone who missed out on selection, but still ent on to play professional cricket. “I think I am an example of someone that didn't have it all his way,” he said. “I tell the boys to carry on working hard and to know that if they don’t perform well in a game during the week they can bounce back and play well in the next game.”

It’s been a good week so far and he has already seen some outstanding talent. He is looking forward to seeing all the teams in action.

Border did not have it all their own way on day one. They bowled well and had Limpopo all out for 77 runs, but the boys thought that they had already won the match and didn't focus on their batting and were bowled out for 103. Luckily the concentrated a little harder in their second innings and won the match by two wickets.

"The lesson learnt was that there are no easy games at this week, so you have to concentrate in every game. This is a good bunch of players. Today we were complacent, so now we will speak to the boys and make sure that they understand the importance of respecting your opposition and giving everything until the match is over,” he said.

“I was blessed to be in the changerooms of coaches like Vince Barnes, Shukri Conrad, Rob Walter, Mark Boucher just to name a few and I have played with players like AB de Villiers and Faf dui Plessis so I know what goes on in the changeroom with some of the best coaches and players in the country. I know how they deal with certain situations and it’s my job to pass on what I have learned to the boys and to assist Shannon by passing on this information. I am still new in coaching so I have to learn from the other coaches and the boys and improve my own coaching abilities.

Rowan is involved in cricket at all the levels, from KFC Mini-Cricket all the way to the Khaya Majola week and he says that cricket is in a better place that what it was when he was young. “CSA has gone into areas that they have not been into in the past and have exposed a lot of players who would not have had an opportunity in their previous structures. This has enriched the game and they have found a lot of fantastic players that they would have missed. It has also give kids a lot of opportunities to play professional cricket that I didn't have as a kid. Cricket is in a better place now,” he said.

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.