BNCC shows ‘fighting spirit’
Great fighting spirit across all of Benoni Northerns Cricket Club’s teams ensured that the club enjoyed yet another successful campaign in the various Eastern Cricket leagues, during the recently completed 2013/14 season.
This is according to Gavin Rademeyer, who was re-elected as BNCC chairman during the club’s AGM, last week.
“We had great spirit throughout our teams this season, with minimal disciplinary issues,” he said.
“Our top senior teams fared well against all opposition, with our Promotion and Legends League sides winning their respective league titles, and our Premier and Saturday first teams finishing a close second.”
The Premier League XI, unfortunately, relinquished their title to arch rivals Kempton Park, but the positive spin-off from that setback was the number of teenagers who played in BNCC’s flagship team, which augers well for the future.
Looking ahead, Rademeyer said the future of the club was bright.
“Financially, we are looking strong, and hopefully we will get the ball rolling to get electricity to our nets in the off-season, to provide our loyal members with even more practise time.”
The club is looking for any assistance with cabling, light poles, etc., to help complete the project.
Last year, members’ fees paid for the installation of a new electronic scoreboard on the A-field, as well as a complete drainage system on the B-field and new synthetic turf on the E-field (juniors), which Rademeyer described as “great assets” for the benefit of the club and its players.
“We are committed to ploughing subscription fees, match fees and sponsorship straight back into the club,” he said.
Another positive aspect for the club in the past season was that, for the first time in many years, the Ekurhuleni Metro had assisted with the preparation of BNCC’s pitches, which remain the envy of most clubs in the region.
There was also reason for optimism among the junior (u-8 to u-14) section, according to the club’s re-elected junior chairman, Clint Breen.
“The 2013/14 season was a continuation of building on the structures we implemented in the previous season, and this led to some good results as far as league positions were concerned,” Breen said.
BNCC entered 13 sides in the various leagues this season, with no less than six league winners produced and 11 of the 13 finishing in the top three – “a phenomenal achievement”.
Individually, the Benoni club had 18 junior players selected for Easterns’ new High Performance Academy, as well as a record 10 for the various provincial Winter Festival squads – “which yet again demonstrates the immense [young] talent we have at our club”.
The BNCC committee for 2014/15 is: Gavin Rademeyer (chairman), Henry Kershaw (vice-chairman), Ryan Pfeifer (club captain), Clint Breen (junior chairman), Anthony Martindale (junior club captain), Dylan Coates (treasurer/secretary) and Mark Beer (public relations).
