Big plans and big shoes to fill
NEWLY appointed amateur cricket manager for the KZN Inland Cricket Union, Ritesh Ramjee, is relishing the prospect of leading from the front.
Ramjee, who was youth and amateur cricket co-ordinator for the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union (KZNCU), was roped in to help stabilise Inland structures.
Last September, Cricket South Africa (CSA) decided to terminate inland’s associate member status, due to poor governance and administrative issues.
Two months later, the province’s mother body, the KZNCU, seconded their amateur cricket manager, Jay Naidoo, to run the union on an interim basis.
“I was overwhelmed when I was told I had been appointed,” Ramjee said.
The sports management graduate began his career at the KwaZulu-Natal Rugby Union as an intern and went on to work as an administrator at Kings Park for two years.
He left for a similar position at the Durban and District Cricket Union, before moving to the position of KFC Mini Cricket co-ordinator. Such was his impact that in just 10 months he was named CSA’s co-ordinator of the year.
Ramjee says he has set a number of targets for his new position in Pietermaritzburg. “I want to implement a competitive and sustainable amateur cricket structure, and enhance the performance of representative teams. It is also imperative to advance the CSA transformation agenda.”
While Inland has had its boardroom issues, the team has managed to produce on the field. Two years ago it won CSA’s domestic one-day and T20 competitions for associate unions. This season they finished runners-up to Northerns in the Africa T20 Cup. “The potential in this region is huge – we have a lot of young players coming through the schools system and into our provincial set-up.”
This role is only the start as he dreams of filling bigger shoes. “I would like to be chief executive of KZNCU in a few years. Maybe one day I can break into the International Cricket Council or Manchester United hierarchy.”