Knights take cricket to the street
THE VKB Knights took cricket to the streets and the community of Kimberley on Friday afternoon as part of the the ABSA Backyard Experience.
Players from the franchise came up with an idea, and a competition, aimed at raising cricket awareness, while at the same time giving back to the community.
On Friday they were in Homestead Road in North View for a surprise mini-cricket match against the winner of the backyard experience and his school’s Under-13 team.
The competition started at the beginning of the month and primary school pupils had to SMS their name, grade and the name of their school to enter while a pupil from the school with most enteries would be selected as the winner.
Lernardt du Plessis, a Grade 5 learner from the West End Primary School was selected as the winner and on Friday players from the Knights, pupils from his school and his parents surprised him when he came home from school.
As members of the community watched, his school team, with him as captain, took on the Knights.
It was a tough and closely contested encounter with Lernardt winning the toss and electing to field.
The Knights set a formidable target of 53, which Lernardt’s team had to chase and eventually needed just one run from the last ball to secure victory. And, with community members in vocal support, Lernardt’s team scraped home with him scoring the winning run.
Lernardt received a Knights shirt, a backpack from Absa and a hamper from the DFA, while Northern Cape Cricket presented him and his team with KFC minicricket equipment. After the match the Knights players signed minibats for the young players.