Northcliff High School indoor cricketers gear up for World Series
Young indoor cricketers look forward to playing for SA for the first time.
Three Northcliff High School learners were included in the squad that’s been selected to represent South Africa at the Indoor Cricket Junior World Series in Dubai.
Gideon Coetzee will play for the SA U15 team while Jack Woolard and Caleb Henenne were chosen for the A side of the same age group, for the tournament in September.
None of them have represented South Africa or played outside of the country before.
“I have only seen the input into cricket in South Africa, so I am looking forward to seeing how coaching and the attitude towards cricket is elsewhere,” Gideon said at a recent practice.
Jack is also eager to see the approach cricketers and their support teams have toward the game.
He is also excited about experiencing the culture of a foreign country.
Caleb said, “I am looking forward to the high level of cricket that we will not be used to, which comes from playing with national teams. I like bowling more than batting because it is less pressured and I am naturally better at it. I feel more in control when I am bowling.”
Team coach, Brian Karg said the tournament would be tough, but he expected the team to at least reach the finals if not win the whole thing.
“We have two or three players with international experience and they are my leaders,” Karg said.
“Often we select players to fill a specific fielding position, but we have players who can field in any position. We can play aggressively and defensively and we have seriously good spinners.”
He added half the team are left-handers and half are right-handed, which means he can have all four batting pairs alternating.
“It also means I can put the fields on the leg side and offside to match their stonger hands, and not many teams can say that.”
Related Article:
Young cricketers (16) do their best to balance school and sport
