20 June 2025, Johannesburg
The Jozi Cup is the country’s biggest T20 winter club cricket competition. Now in its 4th season, the tournament started on 11 May, with the finals scheduled for Youth Day weekend (14 – 16 June) 2025.
The officially endorsed Lions Cricket community-based competition includes over 25 clubs spanning 10 age group categories and over 130 participating teams from U11 right through to over 40’s. The brainchild of Lions Cricket, the Jozi Cup was developed to foster community club cricket which ultimately serves as a continuation of the Pride’s pipeline feeder system. Inclusive of blind cricket teams as well as players from the valued Telkom Talent Acceleration Programme, there really is no stone left unturned when it comes to unearthing the talent within the pipeline.
Over 300 matches have taken place thus far.
Here’s what Tournament Director Reuben Mandlazi had to say:
The tournament has been on fire! To date, there has been extremely tight competition between bat and ball. A few hundreds have been scored already which is exciting to watch and bodes well for our future. On the other hand, bowlers have also raised their hand with several five wicket hauls and a few close hat tricks. We have been privileged to witness some exceptional talent throughout the ranks – from juniors (U11’s) right through to veterans. A personal highlight for me has been the high number of spectators that have pulled through to support their teams – as a Tournament Director, there are many signs that signal whether your tournament is indeed successful– and people taking time out of their busy schedules to support the on-field action, is one such signal that is heartwarming and brings me tremendous joy.
There have been many great individual performances thus far, making it tough to name but a few. However some that come immediately to mind are:
U11 – Pieter Kallis – 168 off 58 balls (15 fours and 15 sixes).
U13 – Gerhard Botha – 5 wickets for 6 runs (4 overs).
U13 – Tatenda Mari – 5 for 4 (4 overs).
Senior Men’s – Neil Timmers – 110 off 48 balls (13 fours and 6 sixes).
Women’s – Fay Cowling – 95 not out off 66 balls (13 fours and 1 six). Also picked up 2 wickets for 15 runs.
But these are just a handful, with plenty more to come. Players have a point to prove and stride out onto the field with a determination equal to any I’ve previously witnessed – and isn’t that a great thing indeed!
The teams have represented themselves well with their kits – I’ve loved seeing the colours, the pride, the professionalism. The unwavering support and camaraderie that the teams receive from their managers, families, communities and so on; irrespective of the match results; is testament to what this tournament means to the communities it serves.
In terms of learnings, I believe that the day you think you know it all, then you need to step aside – and as our CEO says, “We don’t lose, we learn”. A tournament of this magnitude is never without its challenges. One such challenge that we had to overcome, was the last-minute loss of venues/fields which required that we had to think on our feet in order to get replacements – and immediately at that! But hard work, genuine relationships and good practice helped us find solutions when reaching out for help. Another challenge faced was our scorers having to adapt in their first week of the tournament – working under such pressure isn’t easy, but oh so worth it when I look at them thriving three weeks down the line! Most impressive for me was the dedication and commitment shown by the scorers as they committed to training throughout many weekends.
As for the goals set for my organisational and events team: We continuously discuss the importance of delivering a successful tournament come the final ball in June 2025. This means that we need to be proactive when dealing with any challenges that may arise at any given stage. We must always have our guard up and be ready to problem solve. Every single person who works on this T20 club community cricket carnival does so with an unwavering sense of pride, making it easier for me as the Tournament Director to juggle the Jozi Cup!