The Gauteng Cricket Board spends R1.3 million annually to unearth raw cricket talent in formerly disadvantaged areas in the province.
This was revealed by the board’s amateur cricket manager, Colin Gxowa during an interview with Alex News at his office at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium in Illovo.
Gxowa said over and above the R1.3 million being spent annually, the board was spending more than R500 000 in Alex alone to ensure that children from the township schools played cricket, were transported to venues for matches, had meals during the matches and had proper protective gear for the games.
“It would be criminal for us to take the children away from their homes and deny them meals in-between matches. We have a duty to provide them with food in-between matches as most of those children are from disadvantaged homes where their parents struggle to put food on the table,” Gxowa added.
Gxowa said the recent match between Alex children and those from St Stithians College was just the beginning of bigger things to come in ‘our efforts to build character and confidence in Alex kids [which] also forms part of our broader mandate to use sport as a catalyst for social cohesion in our communities’.
The driver of their development programme on the ground in Alex is Jason Maswanganyi, who coordinates the coaching staff and ensures that schoolchildren of both genders get to the Alex Cricket Oval for their matches.
Details: Colin Gxowa 011 340 1500; coling@cricket.co.za; www.gcb.org.za
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