With T20 teams ready to play, the T20 winter community club cricket tournament is bigger, better and set to be the best. 

Johannesburg, 17 March 2023 – The stage was set at the DP World Wanderers for the launch of the 2023 edition of the Diadora Jozi Cup on Thursday 16 March 2023 that saw our Lions clubs, their sponsors and our sponsors welcome the new season.  

The Diadora Jozi Cup is a community based winter cricket club competition spanning various age groups from under 11 through to the Veterans group which includes both boys and girls, men and women. The competition is played with a pink ball, coloured clothing and takes place at community club facilities across the Central Gauteng district with all finals being played at the DP World Wanderers. 

Now in its second year, the aim of the tournament is to grow the base of community clubs, blending the wisdom of the old with the aspiration of today’s youth, and all with the backing of the powerful Diadora brand, so says Lions Cricket CEO Jono Leaf-Wright. 

“We designed this tournament to create opportunity, whilst unearthing talent and rewarding great work. A competitive, yet innovative and enjoyable format, that empowers our all-important Lions clubs to make best use of their home ground advantage to grow supporters and boost revenue. We have encouraged clubs to do this through the means of fates, food stalls, music and whatever else they decide to create excitement and fun – it’s a carnival of cricket for our communities!  

Furthermore, we have encouraged schools to join the clubs, thus further strengthening our pipeline and talent acceleration program. At Lions Cricket, we acknowledge and are grateful for, the pivotal role that our clubs play in the success of our Pride: This tournament is for them.” 

The Diadora Jozi Cup overall club winner will take home R 25 000, with runners-up bagging  

R 15 000.  

The divisions/age groups are as follows:  

U11, U13, U14, U16 and U18; Open Division 1 (Premier League A); Open Division 2 (Premier League B); Women’s Open Division; Senior Men’s Open; Veterans and Blind cricket. 

With the first ball being bowled on 7 May 2023, the competition has already exceeded all  

expectations, says Leaf-Wright; 

“Our clubs have thrown their weight behind this competition even beyond our wildest dreams, with 11 new clubs participating and inclusive of our all-new blind cricket division. Our Junior u11 and u13 teams can be mixed boys and girls – which also opens the competition for all those who love cricket. We’re thrilled that the finals will once again be played, many under floodlights, at our iconic, smart stadium: DP World Wanderers. All of this is with tremendous thanks to our proud partners Diadora – a brand for the youth, that shares in our vision of having BIG DREAMS and Being the Best You. I am also so pleased that many of our existing Lions Cricket partners like DP World, McDonald’s, Sun International, Shattered Glass, Telkom, Hot102.7FM, 

Enza Construction, Beyers, Ellies, Masana, ADT, Afripure, Sunfoil, Richfield and so many more have jumped on board to grow our communities and the Lions Cricket talent pool.” 

The finals will take place over two weekends, namely 10, 11 June and the Youth Day weekend: 16-18 June, with the Jozi Cup Awards ceremony set for 18 June 2023. Entries have officially closed, but should you wish to follow the action, please follow Lions Cricket on the below 

platforms:  

Instagram – @lionscricnews  

Facebook – Lions Cricket News  

Twitter – @LionsCricNews 

#DiadoraJoziCup #ThePrideofJozi #LionsCricket 

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ABOUT LIONS CRICKET 

LIONS CRICKET (Central Gauteng Lions) is the custodian of all cricket activities in the greater Sedibeng, West Rand, Vaal, and Johannesburg area and manages the DP World Wanderers Stadium and DP World Lions. @LionsCricketSA #LionsCricket #ThePrideOfJozi #Equality4All 

For further information, please contact Lions Cricket media liaison Caroline Malan MalanC@cricket.co.za