The biggest cricket tour of the summer is here

This summer schools from all over South Africa are preparing to pit their KFC Mini-Cricket teams against the best the country has to offer in the action packed third installment of the KFC Mini-Cricket Kids vs Proteas Tour. Running from Friday, 14 August 2015, to Tuesday, 18 February 2016, the tour is 137 days longer than the Proteas’ September tour to India.  The four part KFC Mini-Cricket Kids vs Proteas Tour is billed as the longest tour in the cricketing calendar.

Mike Middleton, Chief Marketing Officer for KFC South Africa comments, “KFC is once again thrilled to be bringing the KFC Kids vs Proteas Tour to schools and kids across South Africa, and this year the tour promises to be bigger and better than ever before. We are proud supporters of cricket in South Africa and are committed to giving all kids the opportunity get active and closer to their cricketing heroes, the Proteas.”

The action packed 2015/2016 tour will see four lucky winning schools have home ground advantage, as they host and take on the Proteas at their school.

KFC has also confirmed the signing of legendary cricketing heroes Graeme Smith, Neil McKenzie and Mfuneko Ngam to coach the kids. The KFC Mini-Cricket coaches will be hosting training sessions at each of the winning schools to ensure their games are in tip top shape for their match-up against the Proteas.

KFC Mini-Cricket coach and former Proteas Captain Graeme Smith knows all about the intensity experienced when preparing for a tour of this magnitude. Smith comments, “The pressure is on and KFC Mini-Cricket kids all over the country are hard at work in their preparations to take on the Proteas.  This is a rivalry which goes back three years and I know neither side will want to be on the losing end of the tour come February next year.  The Proteas are one of the top limited overs sides in the world but I am confident we will be ready for them come game 1.”

With both the KFC Mini-Cricket kids and the Proteas going into this years’ tour with a series win in hand, both teams will be looking to assert themselves right from the first ball.

Proteas T20 Captain, Faf du Plessis says, “This tour is without a doubt one of the highlights of our cricketing calendar. The KFC Mini-Cricket kids are well known for their sharp skills and quick feet, and we are anticipating a real test of skill and are looking to try and get an early lead in the series.”

Smith continues, “It is going to be a long tour, but we are up for the challenge and determined to bring the game to the Proteas. I have full confidence in my KFC Mini-Cricket kids and I know that they are going to bring their A-games this summer.”

“We at KFC wish all KFC Mini-Cricketers the best of luck in their bid to win a chance to take on the Proteas in the KFC Mini-Cricket Kids v Proteas Tour,” concludes Middleton.

Give your school the chance to host and take on the Proteas. Dial *120*7535# or visit www.kfcminicricket.co.za now to enter.

 

About the KFC Mini-Cricket Kids v Proteas Tour

For the third year KFC will run a national competition where KFC Mini-Cricket kids will stand the chance to play against the Proteas in the KFC Mini-Cricket Kids vs Proteas Tour

Kids can enter online (www.kfcminicricket.co.za) or via USSD (*120*7535#)

The winners will be rewarded with a prize handover, a training session and a game against the Proteas, all assisted by one of the three KFC Mini-Cricket coaches, Graeme Smith, Neil McKenzie and Mfuneko Ngam.

The runners-up will be given the opportunity to participate as ball boys and girls at a televised Ram Slam T20 Challenge match in their area

Three third place winners will be drawn, each of whom will be awarded with 25 KFC Mini-Cricket sets for their school.

About KFC Mini-Cricket

KFC Mini-Cricket provides a platform for kids in South Africa to have fun and get active

KFC Mini-Cricket is the largest grassroots development sports programme in South Africa and is also an essential building block for learning cricketing basics and entrenching a love for the game. 

There are currently over 110 000 kids from over 4 900 schools active in the KFC Mini-Cricket programme who are coached by over 8000 volunteers

KFC has sponsored KFC Mini-Cricket since 2010 and in the 2012/13 cricket season KFC became the title sponsor of the KFC T20 Internationals and an associate sponsor of the Ram Slam T20 Challenge.

KFC has recently renewed its Mini-Cricket sponsorship for a further 10 years, taking the partnership through to 2025

Log on to www.kfcminicricket.co.za or contact CSA at (011) 880 2810 for more info on KFC Mini-Cricket

KFC launches the KFC Mini-Cricket Kids vs Proteas Tour 2014 for the 2nd year

Skilled batting, accurate bowling and great sportsmanship are the hallmarks of the KFC Mini-Cricket programme and this year the KFC Mini-Cricket Kids vs Proteas Tour offers kids from around the country the once in a lifetime opportunity to play their Protea heroes. The highly anticipated second season of the KFC Mini-Cricket Kids vs Proteas Tour is more exciting than ever because first prize winners will now get to play with their school team against the Proteas at a live curtain raiser to the KFC T20 International Series against West Indies in January 2015.

This season, KFC is bringing the public three great prizes through the KFC Mini-Cricket Competition. The main prize includes three winners and their Mini-Cricket teams meeting their cricketing heroes on the pitch to play for the title. The chosen teams from Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town along with their team coach will be mentored by one of three former Proteas players who have seen and done it all.  These former Proteas will be acting as Assistant Coaches to the winning school teams and will play an active role in the team’s preparation and build up to the tour games with exclusive training sessions and warm up games at the Ram Slam T20 Challenge taking place in the three regions.

Not only will the teams have three assistant coaches but they will play a number of Protea Players including the female team during the Tour. Ryan McLaren who played last season mentioned: “The KFC Mini-Cricket Kids vs Proteas Tour is an exceptional initiative for KFC Mini-Cricket kids. If the Proteas can in some way be an inspiration to the KFC Mini-Cricketers, who will one day be our future heroes, I believe our job is done”.

The second prize winners will get active as ball boys and girls at the Ram Slam T20 Challenge games with the rest of their school team and third place winners will receive KFC Mini-Cricket sets including bats, stumps and balls.

“Growing the KFC Mini-Cricket programme by providing kids with exciting opportunities to get active and meet their sporting heroes is at the heart of everything  we will be activating this season, the KFC Mini-Cricket Kids vs Proteas Tour promises to be bigger and better,” says Lizanne Bartlett, KFC South Africa Marketing Director.

Bartlett continues, “When the KFC Mini-Cricket teams take on the Proteas they will be representing all of the KFC Mini-Cricket kids from across South Africa who get active through the KFC Mini-Cricket programme. I can’t wait to see that first ball bowled and for kids to get active while having fun.”

David Mokopanele, Development Manager for Cricket South Africa added, “We would like to thank our partner KFC for their continued support in cricket development and ensuring children stay active through one of South Africa’s most loved sports.”

To stand the chance to play the Proteas dial *120*7535# between Saturday, 13 September and Tuesday, 14 October 2014.

For more details, visit www.kfcminicricket.co.za and follow the tour action on #kfcminicricket.

Picture captions:

11       Chris Morris and Alviro Petersen signing autographs after getting active at the KFC Mini-Cricket Kids vs Proteas season launch.

22      KFC Mini-Cricket Coaches Mfuneko Ngam, Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie at the KFC Mini-Cricket vs Proteas season launch. These ex Proteas players are going to assist the KFC Mini-Cricket coaches in getting their kids ready for the KFC Mini-Cricket Kids vs Proteas matches that will be played as curtain raisers to the KFC T20 Internationals in January.

33      KFC Mini-Cricket kids, Proteas and ex Proteas getting ready to get Active at the KFC Mini-Cricket Kids vs Proteas season launch.

44     Kgomotso Rapoo, the captain of the KFC Mini-Cricket kids team, tries to run out Chris Morris in the KFC Mini-Cricket Kids vs Proteas launch.

55      Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Andrie Steyn sneak a run during the game at the KFC Mini-Cricket Kids vs Proteas season launch.

66      Neil McKenzie and Mfuneko Ngam, ex Proteas and coaches of the KFC Mini-Cricket teams, pose with player of the match Kgomotso Rapoo.

77      General view of the match where a team of KFC Mini-Cricket kids took on a team of Proteas and Proteas women during the KFC Mini-Cricket Kids vs Proteas season launch.

Children from Banakekeleni Orphanage cricket team overjoyed at surprise visit

Former South African cricketer Neil McKenzie surprised the children at Banakekeleni HIV/AIDS Orphanage in Marlboro when he paid their newly-started cricket team a visit to deliver new KFC Mini-Cricket kit courtesy of KFC South Africa.

McKenzie stayed on to do a little one-on-one coaching with the 8 children who comprise Banakekeleni’s cricket team during which time he shared some of the secrets he’s learned over the course of his cricketing career that made him the player he is today.

McKenzie handed over KFC Mini-Cricket sets (made up of bats, balls and stumps) and KFC branded shirts, shorts and socks to the value of R 4,000.

The idea to try and source cricket equipment for the Banakekeleni children came from Helen Fraser, the director of the Nashua Children’s Charity Foundation (NCCF).

“The NCCF has been providing aid to Banakekeleni since 2003 in the form of a monthly grocery shop that we do for the kids, bedding and linen that we have supplied and basic renovations to their buildings as well as educational toys, books and stationery,” said Fraser.

“As such, we have come to know the children at Banakekeleni well over the years which was why I found it strange one day when I visited the orphanage and found the boys in the middle of an impromptu cricket game. These kids are completely soccer-mad and yet there they were playing cricket with wooden planks for bats, an overturned paint drum for a wicket and a few pairs of tightly rolled up socks for a ball.”

Helen soon learned that a young adolescent boy named Kamvalethu Mzinzi , a KES pupil who loves cricket and has been coached in the past by KES old boy and South African cricket captain Graeme Smith, had been visiting the orphanage daily and teaching the kids how to play during his school holidays.

Helen was so impressed by the Banakekeleni boys’ enthusiasm to play cricket that she immediately got on the phone to Faf du Plessis to ask him to assist, which he willingly did by putting Helen in contact with the KFC Mini-Cricket team whose mandate is to keep kids active and develop their cricket skills from an early age.

“Over 104 000 kids from 4,700 schools participating in the programme is true testament to Cricket South Africa and KFC South Africa’s commitment to getting kids active through cricket and as a result it is only right that we also give the kids from Banakekeleni HIV/AIDS Orphanage an equal opportunity to get active,” said Lauren Turnbull KFC South Africa’s CSR and Sponsorship manager.

The next step was to try to get a famous South African cricketer to meet with the boys and do the handover. Faf had originally agreed to do the handover, but was unable to avail himself due to his commitments with the Proteas.

Helen called up Neil McKenzie, a long-time supporter of the NCCF, to see if he’d be willing to do it and he replied immediately saying he’d be happy to meet with the boys, do the handover and spend an hour or so coaching them one-on-one.

The result was a day that the aspiring young cricket stars at Banakekeleni will never forget and one in which the hardships of their daily lives were left by the side of their makeshift cricket pitch as they spent the afternoon doing what they love.

Get into Action, Get into KFC Mini-Cricket

KFC launched its third year of involvement in the KFC Mini-Cricket programme at a festival held at Sacred Heart College, Observatory with 250 kids getting active on the field. KFC partnered with Cricket South Africa (CSA) in 2010 with the aim of reaching as many children as possible between the ages of 3 and 13 to promote an active and balanced lifestyle.

The focus thisseason will be the KFC Mini-Cricket kids ambassador search which will get kids encouraging other kids to join the programme and for kids already in the programme to play more frequently. Last year the KFC Mini-Cricket programme grew from 83 000 kids to over 100 000 kids playing in the programme.“This season we will ensure that we maintain and improve the quality of cricket played by the children and will continue to encourage enrolment. A main focus for this season will be the growth of KFC Mini-Cricket into rural communities.”Niels Momberg, Youth Cricket Manager at CSA.

The KFC Mini-Cricket kids ambassador search will take place at the 16 provincial festivals with live audition areas where the most charismatic and energetic children will be chosen to be ambassadors for the programme.  These ambassadors will work with KFC’s Mini-Cricket ambassador AB de Villiers to get more kids playing cricket.

AB De Villiers has been an ambassador of KFC Mini-Cricket since 2010 and is an inspiration to the kids involved.  “Everyone needs an introduction into a particular sport and we couldn’t ask for a better way than to be involved in KFC Mini-Cricket. I believe this season will entice even more kids into the programme and I bet it will unearth some characters as ambassadors.  I will have to work hard to keep my position as the ambassador.”

Chief Marketing Officer of KFC, Dave Timm, said of the new campaign:  “We are immensely proud of our involvement with KFC Mini-Cricket and what we have achieved to date and this season will be even more entertaining for the kids.  KFC encourages active and balanced lifestyles for children and each season we look at ensuring that the kids have fun outdoors.”

Former Proteas player Neil McKenzie and his wife Kerry,together with their two kids attended the launch in support of the programme.  “Cricket has had a major and wonderful impact on my life, and will continue to do so and both Kerry and I want our kids to develop a love for the game as early as possible.  Who knows, perhaps my son and daughter will one day be professionals like their father and grand-father!”

The 2012/13 KFC Mini-Cricket season promises to be an unforgettable one and both KFC and CSA have committed to continuing to build the programme well into the future.