Abinala prepares for Meat Express Schools Cricket Challenge

Abinala Primary School is the first school to get an invitation from Meat Express to take part in this prestigious tournament that will see schools in the Kathorus area competing against each other.

Kathorus MAIL was invited by the school to their first training session to prepare for this prestigious tournament.

Young cricket players and coaches showed energy and enthusiasm on their first day of training.

Tintshwalo Mabasa, the sport co-ordinator for the school, said they are more than ready for the challenge.

“As much as we have not yet played any competitive game since the win against the Proteas, we are looking forward to taking down any team that we will play against in this challenge,” said Mabasa.

She said the cricket team is growing at the school.

“We have four teams – two u-10 teams who have a mixture of both boys and girls, one u-13 team for girls only and one u-12 team for boys only. All teams are working hard and they are looking forward to the challenge,” said Mabasa.

The challenge will take place in August and will be played every Saturday for the whole month.

Isaac Phele, Vosloorus Cricket Club coach, who is also the school cricket team coach, said the purpose of the challenge is to introduce the hardball to the primary school and pre-school players.

“They are familiar with the softball. Now we want them to get used to playing with the hardball. This will help players a lot in their development,” said an excited Phele.

After this challenge, the KFC Mini-Cricket League will follow and a hard ball will be used.

Phele said he is excited that the preparations for the challenge are going smooth.

“Players are very sharp because most of them played mini-cricket games before, they know the basics already. I believe their shape level is high. They are very alert when catching the ball,” said Phele.

He added that Abinala Primary School is the first school to get an invitation to take part in the challenge, followed by Nageng Primary School, also in Vosloorus.

“We are looking forward to more schools who would like to take part in the challenge for u-8, u-10 and u-13. Pre-schools will also take part but will have their own streams,” Phele said.

He concluded by saying teachers who would love for their schools to take part can contact him on 063 160 1287.

Ilefonso de Sousa, Meat Express business partner, said they want to raise money for the children.

“We want to use the challenge to raise money to support the children. We want them to stay off the streets as there are dangerous drugs there. At the same time we want to support their education,” said De Sousa.

Prizes for this new challenge are not finalised but De Sousa said there will be huge prizes for the winners.