Ekasi game targets a new cricket generation

CONTRARY to cricket’s most enduring cliche, the inaugural eKasi Challenge match between the Titans and the Lions at Mamelodi Oval today is indeed bigger than the game.

A trophy will be contested by some of SA’s best players and a crowd of 2,500 is expected. But that is where the similarities with what South Africans think is important cricket end — although many franchise matches are watched by fewer spectators.

The significance is in the venue. For the first time since racial unity was proclaimed in cricket in 1991, two leading teams will play in a township. That it has taken 22 years is almost as shameful as the fact that, in that time, only five black Africans have played Tests for SA.

“This is much bigger than it appears,” Eddie Khoza, the Titans’ manager of cricket operations, said yesterday. “It has opened up debate about why games like this aren’t played in the township more often. Cricket is looking for a new generation of supporters — rather take the game to the people.”

That debate will probably be put aside today while Mamelodians enjoy seeing in the flesh the exploits of teams they have previously had to travel to Centurion, the Wanderers, Benoni and Potchefstroom to appreciate.

Now that the door has been opened, it will take some closing. Besides, Mamelodi and many other townships already have a long cricket history. “The generation that is driving cricket in the townships has come through the structures,” Khoza said.