Former Proteas skipper Graeme Smith went to St Andrews Primary School in Saldanha Bay, who won the KFC Mini-Cricket kids vs Proteas tour competition.
Smith went to assist the local team’s cricket coach, Yvonne Kotze, in coaching the team that will take on the Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras in a curtain raiser against the bizhub Highveld Lions on the 23rd November in Cape Town. St Andrews will then take on the Proteas on the 9th January in a curtain raiser to the KFC T20 international between South Africa and the West Indies.
Kotze entered the competition for her school, who subsequently won.
Kotze said: “I found out about the competition when I was attending the Boland KFC Mini-Cricket provincial seminar on the 6th September but forgot about it until the day before the competition closed. Everyone really got involved and they all deserve credit for helping us win.
“When I was called and told that I won the competition I tried to keep calm thinking that it was not true. I told the headmaster about it but I did say to him that before he announces it to the school he should wait for the official letter from KFC. Of course when we received the letter we were all very excited. The kids were all very excited. The first problem that we had was when we picked the team most of the kids did not want to play in the game. They all come from underprivileged backgrounds so they do not believe in themselves. They were all too embarrassed to play in front of their heroes but I spoke to the kids and told them that the just need to get active and have fun and not worry too much about their own abilities. It is a privilege to be selected to play against the Nashua Cape Cobras and the Proteas. Like many of the kids, I have never been to a live cricket game so it will be a new experience for me to go to Newlands and watch the Nashua Cape Cobras and the Proteas play.
Smith said: It is always great to see so much energy as what I saw today from the kids. The KFC Mini-Cricket programme is essential for the betterment of the sport as a whole. It is where most of us started playing cricket and fell in love with the sport. I have a fantastic time with the kids and it is an experience that they will never forget. I hope that one day a Protea player will say that his career started when he took part in the KFC Mini-Cricket kids vs Proteas tour