Hoedspruit had never played in the Limpopo League until this year when the Hoedspruit Sports Academy (HSA) registered a team in the Limpopo 50 Over Promotional League with spectacular results so far. “The first game was on October 15 against the Hornbills Cricket Club from Tzaneen. We won by four wickets with a bonus point. The second game was against Giyani Cricket Club, and we won by 249 runs,” said Mickey Buyst, head coach of HSA.
He said that the third game was against the University of Limpopo which HSA won by 329 runs. “Our fourth game we won by three wickets against Mohodi Cricket Club from Bochum.” HSA is currently in first place on the log with 17 points. Hornbills Cricket Club is in second place with nine points. “We have two more games left in the league and are quite hopeful that we will make the finals which will provide us an opportunity to be promoted to Premier League in our first year.
Also read: Hoedspruit Sports Academy wins three-match series
“This is an amazing achievement for our little town playing cricket against big city teams,” added Buyst. HSA players that have achieved well in the league are Kyle Pretorius with 416 runs, Andrew Viljoen with 205 runs, Leo Bargiacchi with 108 runs, Connor Walker with 78 runs, and Bradley Bell with 51 runs.
The top league wicket takers are Ashley Braaf with nine wickets, Alexx Godrich with eight wickets, Kyle Pretorius with five wickets, Connor Walker with five wickets, and Leo Bargiacchi with four wickets. “We would like to also congratulate Kyle Pretorius for currently being the ‘most valuable player’ of Limpopo in the league with a total of 1351 points and a lead of 228 points ahead of second place,” concluded Buyst.
