Johannesburg – 17 December 2024:
The inaugural Telkom Future Cup is an initiative born from the idea to grow the pipeline within the Gauteng Province, providing a platform for young and aspiring cricketers to hone their skills, gain valuable experience and prepare for a cricketing career.
Serving as a springboard for tomorrows talent, the tournament serves as the “Road to the Lions”, by bringing together players from different backgrounds but aligned in their visions and dreams. Closing the performance gap between amateur and professional cricket is imperative when aiming to elevate talented and hardworking players to their highest level of performance – whether that be for Lions Cricket or on a National level, so says Cricket Services Manager of Lions Cricket Reuben Mandlazi;
“This tournament does so much for our valued players throughout our eco-system. This is the first of its kind where teams from clubs, universities and schools are provided an opportunity to compete whilst scouts will hover and keep a close eye on the top performers throughout the tournament. Credit must go to the Lions Cricket Colts and Lions Cricket Academy for their foresight to grow the talent pool. To Telkom: A heartfelt Thank You for the continuous support of the development of our game across all levels, without your backing this simply wouldn’t be possible.”
With the first round of the tournament now concluded, some cracking cricket has been played by the participating teams namely: Teams Lions Academy; Lions U19; Lions Schools Invitational XI; Wits University; University of Johannesburg and Club XI. The remainder of the tournament will be played in the early part of the new year, with the Championship title wide open for the taking.
Results to date:
Game 1: Rural team vs Academy – Rained out
Game 2: Lions U19 176/10 (Richard Seletswane 47, Tahseen Hanslo 47) vs Wits University 219/9 – Wits won by 43 runs.
Game 3: Lions Academy 271/4 (Reuben Du Toit 148, Glen Adams 61) vs Wits University 121/10 – Academy won by 150 runs.
Game 4: UJ 219/7 (Tshepo Stafa 71) vs Club XI 218/10. (Dylan Nicholas 85) – UJ won by 3 wickets.
Game 5: Academy 123/10 (Reuben Du Toit 42) vs UJ 236/10 (Kieron Croom 86) – UJ won by 113 runs.
Game 6: Lions U19 vs Lions Invitational team: Lions U19 – 243/8 (Pranav Raichetti – 65; Jason Rowles – 40).
Invitational team – 102/9 (Henricus Meyer – 48) Lions U19 won by 141 runs.
Game 7: Lions Academy vs Lions U19 (2-day match) – Academy 231/3. Mohammed Manack 70, Siya Radebe 58, U19 180/10 – Jason Rowles – 71 (63 0vers), match drawn.
Kurt Human, Lions Academy and Colts head coach said that the tournament has provided a platform for all players from clubs, universities, and schools to showcase their talent at a different level;
“This tournament has opened our eyes to the abundance of talent we have at our disposal. It is through tournaments and initiatives like these, that we are able to keep growing our pipeline to remain highly competitive.”