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Cricket pros take on schoolboys
The inaugural schoolboys Twenty20 Cricket Festival was held three years ago and included the cream of South Africa's under-19 cricketing talent, who gathered in Johannesburg for a weekend of breathtaking entertainment.
Since that first edition of the festival, the Sahara Twenty20 Cricket Festival has become one of the most popular and prestigious schoolboy cricket festivals in South Africa, and 2010 promises to be an even better and bigger event.
The festival has introduced a new and more explosive form of cricket at grassroots level and the youngsters playing the game are benefiting hugely from the experience.
The highlight of the festival is no doubt the contest between the Sahara All Stars XI and the Combined Schools XI, which will be televised live on SuperSport, one of the festival's major sponsors. The Sahara All Stars XI will include Graeme Smith, Loots Bosman, David Miller, Rory Kleinveldt, Vernon Philander and Dominic Hendricks, SA under-19 cricketer of the year 2010.
The match takes place on Friday 10 September at 1pm. The remainder of the weekend promises top-class schoolboy cricket from the country's top schools.
After the success of that first festival, Sahara took over as principal sponsors with Nashua Mobile taking the reigns as presenting sponsor and Kent Park Taverners and Hummel Sport & Leisure Africa Limited, taking over as associate sponsors. Furthermore, SAB Miller and ABI have committed to partnering with St David's in hosting the event.
All profits from the Festival are directed to the St David's Marist Foundation. The Foundation has a number of initiatives including providing financial assistance to deserving boys from previously disadvantaged backgrounds, who show academic and sporting potential.
The following schools will be participating in the 2010
festival:
St David's Marist Inanda, King Edward VII, St Stithians
College, Kearsney College, St John's College, St Alban's College,
Affies, Pretoria Boys High School, Maritzburg College, St Charles
College, Grey College (Bloemfontein), St Andrew's College (Eastern
Cape), Rondebosch Boys High School (Western Cape) and the KPT XI.
The KPT XI will include players from Paul Roos Gimnasium (Boland), Hoerskool Menlo Park (Gauteng North), Jeppe High School for Boys (Gauteng), Hoerskool Randburg (Gauteng), New Orleans Secondary (Boland), St Andrew's (Bloemfontein), Noordkaap (Griquas), Outeniqua (South Western Districts), St Boniface (Griquas) and Bolan Landbou (Boland).
