Cree included in SA baseball squad to the US
Cree, 29, who plays his club game for the Boksburg Cardinals Major League side, earned his first national cap at the age of 17.
South African baseball player Kieran Cree has been included in the national side, who will look to qualify for the 2021 World Baseball Classic (WBC) in Tucson, Arizona, USA.
The qualifiers will be held from March 12 to 25, but Team SA is due to jet off to North America on March 5 to give them enough time to settle in and prepare.
The qualifying round will consist of two tournaments comprising six teams each. Both qualifiers will be hosted in Arizona. The winners and runners-up of each of the two tournaments will qualify for the 2021 World Baseball Classic.
SA is paired with France, Germany, Nicaragua, Brazil and Pakistan in the Qualifier 1 group.
The Qualifier 2 group, to compete between March 20 to 25, consists of Great Britain, New Zealand, Spain, Philippines, Czech Republic and Panama.
Team SA is scheduled to land back at OR Tambo International Airport on March 19.
Speaking ahead of the qualifiers, Cree, the national side stalwart pitcher, enthused: “It’s an absolute honour just to try and get South Africa back into the World Baseball Classic because we’ve been there before in ’06 and ’09 and it’s just going to be nice to have the opportunity to do it again.
“I’m looking forward to being able to compete against the best of the best who have been selected from other countries and just to see if we can put South Africa on the map.”
