Talented young cricketers boost Stirling festival

The annual Jumbo/Work Africa Stirling Cricket Festival took centre stage recently with some of the most talented U9, U11 and U13 cricketers  from around the Border region, and even a few top cricketers from outside the province, participating. 

The three-day festival saw 34 teams play across the three age categories, with some exciting action enjoyed by all during the tourney. 

“It was a great event, we had about 25% more kids this year than last and every year it has continued to grow, so it has been really fantastic,” said tournament organiser Mark Rogers.

“We had pretty much the best young emerging talent from the Border region taking part, so it was really fun and competitive.

“We also get this group of kids from various provinces who get picked for this touring team and they came and were a part of the festival, which was really good for the other guys to play against top players from other provinces.”

In the end the U9 section was won by the Wildcats team, the U11 section saw the Scorpions triumph and in the U13 divsion the Patriots came out on top.

The top run-scorers for the tournament were Miles Sansom in the U13 division with Bevaneo Maytham runner-up, Ben Heuer in the U11 section with Caleb Emslie runner-up and Zuko Pontshi topped the U9 batting aggregate with Daniel Tarr runner-up.

The top wicket-takers were Dante May for the U13s with Kyle Cutler runner-up, Ryley Wiggill for the U11s with Josh Edwards runner-up and Alonso Lasher for the U9s with Samuel Richter runner-up.

“A team of dedicated organisers from Work Africa, the Stirling Cricket Academy and Stirling Primary work together throughout the year to make this cricket festival happen,” added Rogers.

“Combine this with the assistance and commitment from Stirling High, Stirling Primary, Jumbo Clothing Company and Work Africa, and this event becomes a reality.

“The Stirling Cricket Festival continues to grow each year and 2020 promises to be no different.”

After the event tournament teams were selected, but this year in a different way than previous weeks and T20 matches were played and ended with the Jumbo Giants winning the U9 and U11 games and the Work Africa Warlords winning the U13 match.

“We had an auction this time. Jumbo and Work Africa picked coaches who then picked teams and we used a fictitious budget to bid on players to show that all the players have value,” explained Rogers. “It was really fun and a great way to end things off.”