POLOKWANE – Steven Mailula wants to be the best development cricket coach in Seshego.
Mailula told BONUS he finds joy and hope in nurturing the abundant talent in the area. The 36-year-old father of one embarked on a talent recruitment drive in partnership with the Seshego Cricket Club last year where he visited schools in the area to introduce the sport to learners in the hopes of recruiting them to the club. “Thus far, I managed to recruit learners from Letlotlo, Phishego, Rev MP Malatjie, Esau Mosedame, Peakanyo and Snell Phoshoko Primary Schools.
“The aim is to grow the sport in the area and create an enabling environment for these children to realise their dreams as cricket players. We are doing well and we have plenty of enthusiastic learners in our programme who love the sport. We play friendly games almost every week,” he explained.
Mailula said he hopes to produce a future national team player through the project, who will contribute to other teams affiliated to Cricket South Africa.
“It is the dream of every young cricketer in the country to play for the Proteas, but realistically, not everyone can achieve that feat. We would, however, love to have some of our players from this initiative signed to top performing teams in the country or maybe an overseas team in the future.”
Just like in rugby, Mailula said he would love to see more black players playing and captaining big franchises in the near future.
He has an array of experience under his belt, having been the former wicketkeeper for the Seshego Cricket Club, the opening batsman for the Titans Colts team alongside Proteas Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klassen, and he was also part of the South African Colts team in 2011.
“It was my dream to progress and play for the Proteas one day, but things didn’t go according to plan.
“The system only favoured the privileged. I was doing well, I would get 50 runs and more during the matches, but I realised that as a black man one must work ten times harder to get that recognition and I could not get it.
“However, I have made peace with that. I gained a lot of experience when I was with the Titans and I look forward to sharing my expertise with the youth.”
He stressed that he loves cricket because it is a gentlemen’s game. “I grew up as a normal child in the township where soccer was the main sporting code. I did not get far with soccer because I fell in love with cricket. It kept me off the streets and taught me patience, resilience and perseverance.”
