Louwtjies do SA proud
ILLOVO – Linden youngsters play cricket against SA's best.
The Laerskool Louw Geldenhuys U8 cricket team performed admirably to only lose to the best cricketers in the country by one run on 11 January.
The Louwtjies, as the cricket team from the primary school in Linden is called, played against a team made up of Proteas men and women cricketers in the second match of the KFC Mini-Cricket vs Proteas Tour at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Illovo.
The tour involves the Proteas playing a school side before every T20 International in the West Indies tour.
Former Proteas batsman Neil McKenzie helped train the Louwtjies in preparation for the eight-over match.
Louwtjies won the toss and chose to bowl first.
The Proteas side included JP Duminy, Mignon du Preez, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Reeza Hendricks, Andrie Steyn, Yolani Fourie and Suné Luus.
The Louwtjies fielded well, taking several good catches to restrict the Proteas to 70 runs.
The Louwtjies’ innings got off to a slow start, but they rallied well, with Francois Steyn getting the highest individual score of the match, with 13 runs.
They needed three runs off the last ball. The shot landed at the feet of Wayne Parnell, and he yawned, taking his time before collecting.
The Louwtjies ran two runs in that time, but Parnell eventually threw the ball to the stumps for JP Duminy to enact a run out, and win the match for the Proteas.
Louwtjies’ player Lincoln Engelbrecht received the Man of the Match award for his bowling, taking two wickets for eight runs. “This was really fun,” said Francois Steyn.
His teammate Zacharias Crow agreed. “The game wasn’t about winning or losing, but having fun,” he said.
JP Duminy said afterwards that it was good to see the children enjoy the match, and he gave the Louwtjies an eight out of ten for skill. Louwtjies coach JP Piquito said that he was proud of his team’s performance.
In preparation for the Proteas match, the Louwtjies played against the bizhub Highveld Lions in November last year, which they lost with one ball remaining.
Details: Laerskool Louw Geldenhuys pos@llg.co.za, 011 782 5442.
