”I want to be a fast-bowler like Makhaya Ntini,” 11-year-old Malusi Mbetshu tells me during the Mercedes-Benz development tour of Qomfo and Mdingi villages in the Eastern Cape.
His ambition has good precedents: the car maker has sponsored cricket development in rural communities in the Border region for the past 15 years and the project has unearthed national team players Ntini and Monde Zondeki.
Border cricket has been at the forefront of the United Cricket Board’s youth development programme since 1987 and is regarded as the best in the country.
The programme provides schools and clubs with equipment every year in order to help them participate in their fixtures. Training and match facilities such as carpets, nets and middle pitches are also provided.
The development programme covers the regions of Healdtown, Alice, Middledrift, King William’s Town, Keiskammahoek, Peddie, Queenstown, Aliwal North and East London.
Community leader Fuzile Qomfo says the programme has helped ”instil discipline in our children”, and has created unity among youngsters in the region.
It is not just boys who benefit. National team player Nolubabalo Ndzundzu says ”female cricket has a bright future”, although the game is still male-dominated.
”Some of the girls are complaining about being neglected as compared to the boys, but we love the game. We will continue playing no matter what,” she says.