Cricket festival a success

THE Penzance Cricket Academy (PCA), a private cricket academy based in Umbilo, hosted a successful mini cricket festival on Saturday 28 March at Highbury.

Zayne Bux, director of the academy, along with his dedicated team Lance Padayachee and Siphile Dlamini, approached local businesses from the Wentworth area to sponsor coaching at six Wentworth Primary Schools to introduce the youngsters to cricket. The schools that participated included Wentworth Primary, Durban East Primary, Austerville Primary, Collingwood Primary, Gardenia Primary and Assegai Primary. With the help and funding from sponsors, PCA spent a month training and coaching the Grade 1s, 2s and 3s at these schools with the festival taking place at the end of the month.

“The day was a huge success with a massive turnout from parents and school staff members to support the kids as they competed in their first ever cricket games. It was so special to be there and see the turnout. Most of these schools don’t have any sport at their schools due to a lack of funding and manpower,” said Zayne.

The players had a fun day with each team playing two games for the day. At the end of the festival the teams were presented with medals and some inspirational words from sponsors.

Zayne said the PCA was thankful for the opportunity and thanked sponsors Mandlethu Group, AS Bux Auto Electrical, Fabricon, Bevline Mechanical Projects and Rodcon Engineering.

“Without them the day would not have been possible. Thank you for partnering with The PCA toward this amazing initiative. Thank you also to the many volunteers from the community who gave of their time to make sure the day ran smoothly and the kids had a great time,” he said.

The PCA would like to continue to work with these schools, and any businesses or individuals who are interested in sponsoring schools for this development programme can contact zayne@penzancecricketacademy.co.za