Joburg Cricket Club hosts exhibition Bangla cricket match
Eersterust Cricket Club are successful expats after the inaugural Southeast Cricket Gold Cup.
A cricket match of a different kind took centre stage on December 16 when the grounds of the Joburg Cricket Club (JCC) in Bertrams hosted the first edition of the Southeast Cricket Gold Cup tournament in South Africa.
The match was organised by Africa Bangla Media Corporation, an online digital platform which aims to share local news content with Bangladeshi nationals living in South Africa and abroad.
After kicking off with 20 teams comprising Bangladeshi expats from across Gauteng on November 4, the tournament saw the teams battling it out until only two remained to contest the frenzied final.
Eersterust Cricket Club (ECC) from Pretoria faced Mafikeng Cricket Club (MCC) on a day which, importantly, marked Bangladesh’s 47th year of independence since the country’s allied forces triumphed over Pakistan in the Liberation War of 1971.
What ensued was a fierce game of 20 overs-a-side cricket which eventually saw the Eersterust hoard emerge victorious after they posted 129 runs for the loss of six wickets. MCC, in reply, managed to only score 95 runs all out, and as a result, gifted ECC a maiden Gold Cup title of the inaugural showpiece event.
Speaking to EXPRESS after the match, legendary former South African cricketer and honourary member for life at JCC Hoosain Ayob, spoke volumes of the occasion.
“When I see this, it took me back to where I started with development in Soweto and other areas of South Africa.
“More than anything else, however, it is nice to come here because this is a club that is going one step further towards helping the youngsters, especially the children in underprivileged areas, by having them play cricket here to keep them away from drugs and the likes.”
Ayob also encouraged organisers to look at youth development as part of the tournament’s mandate going forward. He said a junior setup will do a lot to not only give the tournament a youthful variant, but up the youngsters’ cricketing skills and passion for the game.
Co-organiser of the tournament at Africa Bangla Media Corporation Noman Mahmud said: “We will organise this tournament in a big way in the future. We are very excited about the participation of expatriates in this so-called ‘arrangement abroad’, so I am grateful to all the teams that participated in this first Gold Cup tournament in South Africa.”
