Welcome to the Rat Cage

Before a ball is bowled on the field, many people work hard to ensure a cricket club has everything it needs to have a successful season.

And so three months before league games get under way, a group of committed men meet to plan the way forward for Pirates Cricket Club.

It is an important meeting as an independent panel, and also members of the club executive committee, discuss various points, including the selection of a head coach and two assistant coaches.

“We invite everyone and anyone to join the club,” said fundraising director, Richard Connear.

“We have social teams and serious teams of all level, so there is something for everyone.”

When October comes, Pirates will feature social teams in the Saturday 4, 6 and 7 leagues, and serious teams in the Sunday Premier B, President’s A and Sunday 3 leagues. The club also has a social group called The Rottens that sometimes features people who have never played cricket before.

Pirates boasts one of Gauteng’s largest junior divisions with 80 children from U5 to U13 level.

Chairperson of the club, Mlungisi Nkosi said Pirates is looking to start a girls or women’s team in the next few seasons if there is enough interest shown.

One of the best reasons to give cricket a go at Pirates, said club president Barry Skjoldhammer, is that the club has always provided top-quality coaching, which has seen many a Protea and international player step through its doors.

Photos of Jimmy Cook, Clive Rice, Grant Elliot, Hugh Page, Keaton Jennings, Steven Jack, André Nel and Matthew Hoggard, among others, line the walls at the Old Bones bar at the club.

“Once a pirate, always a pirate,” the men agreed.

Pirates Sports Club is Joburg’s oldest sports club and its cricket ground is known as the Rat Cage.

Details: Pirates Sports Club info@piratesclub.co.za; 011 646 5025.

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Momentum key for Pirates Cricket Club’s chances at President’s League