Cricket fanatics had best be on the lookout, as the Eastern Junior Club Cricket Association’s (EJCCA) 10th annual Carnival City Cricket Festival will take place at the Sahara Park Willowmoore cricket grounds in Benoni, the United Cricket Club in Brakpan and the Actonville Spurs Cricket Club, from today (July 2) until July 6.
Junior cricket teams from Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland and Mozambique will join the EJCCA junior representative teams in one of South Africa’s premier cricket development events.
Participating age groups are u-13, u-15, u-16, u-17 and u-19.
According to Mark Kingham, chairman of the EJCCA, the festival had only four participating teams in 2004, two from the region and two from Botswana.
This year, the 10 festival has grown to attract a total of 20 participating sides.
“Our mission has always been to provide junior cricketers from all sectors of the community with an event that allows them to develop and play cricket at the highest level,” said Kingham.
“There can be no doubt that the festival has a positive impact on improving the standard of cricket at junior level and, in past years, a number of players have successfully made the leap to the senior ranks at provincial and senior level, and there is no reason why this trend should not continue into the future.”
However, Kingham believes that part of this success is due to the emphasis on playing the game in good spirit during the festival.
“Our goals of cricket development, social integration, cultural understanding, life skills and improving relations with stakeholders has been realised and, as a result, the festival has experienced phenomenal growth,” he explained.
“We, at Carnival City, are proud of our long and ongoing association with this festival and to be playing a meaningful role in cricket development in our region,” said the chairman of Carnival City Corporate Social Investment, Mduduzi Godfrey Madonsela.
“We are especially delighted to be bringing cricket to our townships and identifying talent in young players.”
