D'Almeida Cricket Hub celebrates successes

Gallery

MOSSEL BAY CRICKET NEWS - The D'Almeida Cricket Hub celebrated numerous successes over the past season during their annual awards function last Friday, 17 May.

According to assistant coach at the Hub, Devan Muller, they have good reason to be proud of the season's achievements.

The Hub's U19 boys first team finished second in pool B of the U19 Super League, which they have participated in for the first time this past season. Cricketers like Geon Burns, who participated in the national U16 RPC Week in Potchefstroom in March, boasts with an outstanding almost 800 runs made this season.

Click here for a photo gallery.

Burns was selected as captain for SWD RPC, he is also captain of the U19 first team at D'Almeida Hub. Two other players from the Hub that were selected for the National U16 RPC Week were Ravin-Lee Kemmies and Uston Micheals. These three cricketers had notable achievements during the RPC Week which landed them among the top performers for the team.

The D'Almeida Hub U15 first team also made their mark by finishing second in their super league competition in pool B. Basil George who was co-captain of the team during several matches and was named best bowler overall at the annual SWD Cricket awards in the U15 Super League, as well as the best bowler in the U19 Coca Cola T 20 competition for high schools in the region.

"He had an remarkable season with the ball," says Muller.

Geon Burns was also acknowledged at the annual SWD Cricket awards for his outstanding achievements being selected captain of the SWD RPC and SA RPC U16 teams.

Basil George took 12 wickets with the best match figures of 5/10 was the top bowler in the SWD Schools T20 competition. George claimed the most wickets in the Under 15 Super League – 17 wickets - with a best bowling analysis of 5/38 the top bowler in the U15 Super League.

Geon Burns, Uston Michaels, Anwille Groenewald, Basil George and Eschen Jansen participated in the SWD HUB/RPC U17 Trials in November 2018. Burns, Michaels, Groenewald and Jansen were selected for the SWD HUB/RPC U17 team that participated in the Basil D'Oliviera Youth Tournament in December 2018. Eschen Jansen has now moved on accepting a sports bursary from a high school in KwaZulu-Natal.

Muller says that the U13 Boys team also showed improvement from the previous season. Jesse Lewis, captain of the team was selected for Eden Schools U14 team. He competed in the Western Cape U14 Boys district tournament in Worcester. Lewis and Kyle de Jager have been included in the SWD U13 boys training squad who will participate in the SWD trials for selection of the provincial team later this year. Keano Witbooi, part of the Hub's U13 Boys team made great strides in his cricket this season as he was named the most improved junior for the season.

Another player who has shown his potential this season is Geronovan Erasmus. He was named the most improved senior player.

Christiano de Grass, Cashwell London, Ashlee-Ann Meyer, Chani Damons and Darren Plaatjies are either in Grade 12 in 2019 or finished in 2018 and were rewarded for their dedicated service to the Hub. Darren Plaatjies has been the designated scorer of the U15 and U19 boys first teams for the past 5 years.

Other players at D'Almeida Hub who are part of SWD schools training squads are Chani Damons, Risha Fortuin, Meche Jacobs, Lee Scheepers, Basil George, Uston Micheals, Anwille Groenewald, Ravin-lee Kemmies, Geon Burns, Jhedli Van Briesies.

Chad-Leigh Mono, Dristan Arends and Lee Scheepers participated in the Western Cape U14 schools trials during October 2018 in Paarl. Hub Coach Devan Muller accompanied the SWD U14 Hub/RPC team as the manager. Dristan Arends and Lee Scheepers were selected for the Western Cape U14 schools team who participated in the national schools championships. Ravin-lee Kemmies was selected in the SWD U15 Boys team where he was also the vice-captain. Kemmies has represented SWD Schools from U11 boys age group.

The D'Almeida Cricket Hub once again boasts inclusion of their players in SWD provincial teams. Ashlee-Ann Meyer and Chani Damons was selected for the girls U19 cricket team. Meyer have represented SWD girls U19 for the past 5 years since 2014. Damons also served as vice-captain for the second year as well as representing the SWD senior womens team for the past few seasons. She has also represented the SWD Girls U19 team since 2014. She was named as the best batsman in girls cricket at the annual awards.

Young prodigy Tiche Frans was named the Girls U13 best batsman and named as the junior player of the season at D'Almeida Hub. It is quite a magnificent achievement for a player so young and tiny. She is one of the up and coming girls cricketers at the Hub. Meche Jacobs who was named as best bowler of girls U16 is also a player to watch out for the future.

The outstanding achievements of the season has to go to Jhedli van Briesies, a player with lots of potential.

In the U19 Super League, Van Briesies, was again the outstanding batsman and scored a total of 323 runs with a highest score of 143.

Jhedli van Briesies, from Langenhoven Gymnasium, was the top batsman in the SWD Schools U19 T20 competition.

A good individual performance by van Briesies in the Coca Cola T20 franchise qualifiers was rewarded with an inclusion in the Coca Cola All Stars team.

The SA U19 Coca-Cola® All-Star team completed a "dream" weekend with a win against a Cricket South Africa (CSA) Hub team in a curtain raiser to the 2019 Coca-Cola® Schools T20 Challenge national finals in Pretoria.

Jhedli van Briesies who is in matric at Langenhoven Gymnasium in Oudtshoorn was selected for the SA U19 Coca Cola All Star team. Van Briesies also represented the SWD U19 team during the Coca Cola Khaya Majola week in 2018. He has represented SWD Schools since 2014 from U13 boys.

Van Briesies was the SWD High Schools player of the season at the SWD Cricket Annual Awards.

Van Briesies was offered a cricket bursary from Langenhoven Gymnasium.

Kyle de Jager with Dirk Lewis (left). Kyle was named best bowler (U13).

The head coach at the Hub Ranwill Claassen gives a special merit award to Vernon Seconds (right) of St Blaize Primary for their contribution towards cricket development, offering the use of the school's facilities.