• Bat like Pite van Biljon: Entries and winner!

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    SA Cricket magazine offered readers the chance of winning a cricket set of a Kratos bat, pads, gloves and a kit bag (as used by Pite van Biljon) sponsored by Genesis cricket.

    Selected entries:

    Dolphin tales – Amaris Nortje

    Awe! Awe boys! What a game at Camp Discovery against Constantia on 18 June 2019. My name is Amaris Nortje or Amarvis Dolfyn to everybody that knows me. I am 13 and play for Louis Trichardt Primary School U13.

    With our backs against the wall with Constantia’s 189-8 in their 20 overs, our wheels were flat. After 103-3 for 14 overs, Tshepo and my magical 91-run partnership gained some ground. My friend’s 27 * (33 balls) and my 64* (33 balls) gave us the win of 194-3 after 20 overs. I was very lucky enough to have hit 10 fours and one six.

    My dad bought me the SA Cricket magazine for the long road to Camp Discovery from Louis Trichardt. We saw the article of ‘Bat Like Pite van Biljon’; I hope my story will be as magical to you as it was for me to play it. ‘Amarvis Dolfyn’ is my nickname that my teammates gave me on last year’s cricket tour. Why Amarvis Dolfyn you may ask and I would say, ‘Have you ever seen how fast a fish moves on dry ground, not any fish but a dolphin! No ball pass me by when I do fielding! I wonder what the Dolphins will think of this?’

    Lessons from ‘99 – Dané Dorfling

    During the ‘war’ of the 1999 Cricket World Cup semi-final, South Africa learned a big lesson when competing versus Australia.

    With a target of 214 runs, there were three balls left and one run was needed for victory. Allan Donald and Lance Klusener were batting. They did not effectively communicate with each other, and as a result Donald was run out.

    For years after that nightmare of a match, many citizens of South Africa were mad at Donald and Klusener. Hearts were broken and happiness faded.

    Former president Nelson Mandela said: ‘When people are determined, they can overcome anything.’

    After the 1999 CWC semi-final, South Africa was in a state of shock, but instead of celebrating, the country was in grief. Like the South African national anthem says: ‘… and united we shall stand’, South Africa could be determined, not blaming each other when making mistakes, rather we should stand united and enjoy South African cricket.

    Although this match was years ago, my brother and I love cricket and we learned some lessons out of this match. He, my nine-year-old brother, dreams of becoming the best all-rounder in South African cricket history. He is still young, and he has many life lessons to be learned, but we as a family keep on encouraging him … all the way.

    Magic moment – Ryan Montanus

    On September 2016, Ryan was sent to the Easterns schools U11 trials. As was expected the competition was extremely tough. But he made the team. A few weeks later, Ryan and his teammates went to Willowmoore Park, Benoni to receive their caps during a senior provincial match. During the dinner-time break, the teams received the opportunity to walk around the park, and wave to the crowd.

    100 up – Trysten Davel

    Trysten achieved his third 100 in a school festival at Uplands in Mpumulanga and was also batter of the series.

    He made the following scores in October 2018:

    – 133* from 90 balls and took five catches

    – 107 from 31 balls

    – 100* from 29 balls (retired)

    Funny game – Jaryd Philp

    I write to you as I would like to tell you of a story that you might find hilarious yet surprising!

    Taking you way back to the year 2016. I was then in matric, attending Wynberg Boys’ High School. I was fortunate enough to be representing the mighty 2nd XI team throughout my matric year.

    One very warm and humid Saturday morning, playing far out in the Winelands, we were faced with a very difficult task of competing against Paarl Boys 2nd XI. We always feared playing against these type of schools as we were a small but talented group of lads.

    We won the toss and our captain at the time made one of the biggest mistakes of his life, by batting first on unknown territory and a spinner’s dream up front. As we all expected, the sheer size and pace of the Paarl Boys bowling attack tore our top six in half. We eventually found ourselves on 58-6 after 18 overs. Still having seven overs till drinks. Just fantastic.

    I was the next batsman in, being comforted by the previous batsmen to ‘just get behind the ball’. Which obviously worked for them … and right before the end of the 19th over, our No 7 batsman had his middle stump replaced on the other side of the field. Which was my cue to go out and fight this battle with little to no hope.

    I nervously took guard which obviously didn’t matter, because I was definitely not going to be there for long. I had about five overs to survive this onslaught before I could be rewarded with the cold, refreshing taste of sweet Oros.

    By surviving bouncer after bouncer, I was treated with THE worst examples of sledging possible. Such as: ‘Come on Andre, the batsman needs Outsurance!’ to ‘The batsman is batting with a doughnut!’ My brain cells seemed as if they were diminishing one by one after each sledge. Now, I was a bowler who could bat a little but my batting average said otherwise. I realised after surviving up until the 25th over, I had a real chance of getting some solid runs behind my team and a possible promotion up the order. So after the 25th over, we were 83-7. Nothing fantastic but a solid partnership was forming.

    The first ball after drinks was welcomed with an absolute beauty where I saw my batting partner’s off-stump tumble over. At that point, I thought all hope was lost. The next batsman in hadn’t batted in four weeks, which was perfect timing.

    We slowly just batted away, single here and there. A boundary was always reassuring as bad deliveries were scarce. Eventually we realised that the scoreboard stated that we were on 120-8. I was on 42 at the time and I couldn’t believe it at first. My previous highest total was 36. Embarrassing, I know. And we still had a good few overs to bat through. And before I knew it, I had scored my first 50 in school cricket! Against all the odds and in the worst situation possible. Shortly after my 50, the tail order was wagging, so they were all cleaned up and we ended up on 147 all out.

    Unfortunately, to conclude this story, Paarl Boys beat us by seven wickets with plenty of overs to spare. But on that day, I will never forget the partnership of a lifetime and the fight that I took to the Paarl giants!

    Eat, sleep, cricket – Jarred van Niekerk

    I am 11 years old. I live in Umhlanga, Durban and am a scholar at Reddam House.

    Some of my favourite sledging sayings are:

    Batsman batting like Eskom – no power.

    I’ve seen better leaves in the tree.

    I’ve seen better blocks in my Lego box.

    Here are a few of my cricket achievements:

    Bowler of the Tournament – Crawford North Coast – 27 January 2018

    Scored 50 runs at Reddam House Umhlanga – U10 cricket

    Took five wickets in two consecutive matches at Reddam and received a trophy for it.

    My best bowling figures : 3-0-7-3

    Selected for KZN U11 cricket trials. Currently in high-performance academy at Kingsmead

    Cricket is my passion! Come rain or shine, I am always at the Kingsmead supporting the Dolphins, even the groundsmen know me by name.

    And the winner: Jarred van Niekerk!

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    Wade Pretorius