Paarl hosts historic cricket event
2005-11-10
PAARL will make up an integral part of a historic cricket event when the first ever international cricket series for the intellectually impaired kicks off today.
South Africa will take on Australia and England in this series with Boland Park hosting three of the seven matches including the finals.
The opening match between SA and Australia takes place at the Bellville Cricketgrounds today, followed by the SA and England clash in Paarl tomorrow. Both matches will start at 10:00.
On Saturday the two visiting countries will take on each other, also in Paarl, after which the teams travel to Oudtshoorn and George.
The final will take place on 20 November at Boland Park.
The series is organised by South Africa in co-operation with the Boland Cricket Board, Western Province Cricket Union and the South Western Districts Cricket Union.
The development of cricket amongst the intellectually impaired had its origins in Stellenbosch in 1995 when the need to introduce the sport on school level became high priority on the development objectives set by the South African Sports Association for the Intellectually Impaired (SASAII).
SASAII was established in 1991 to develop sport amongst all peoples with an intellectual or learning disability in South Africa.
The first ever cricket week was organised in Paarl in 1998 with the assistance of the Boland Cricket Board and was attended by 11 provinces.
International participation blinked on the horizon, but unfortunately no competition was available as South Africa was the only country developing the code amongst the intellectually impaired up until 2004.
Negotiations with Australia and England last year resulted in a decision that a Triangular series needs to be organised in all three countries with SA being the first to host the event.
“Currently 15 regions which include WP, Boland, KZN, Free State, Eastern Province, North West, Gauteng, Gauteng North, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng West, West Rand, East Rand and Border are actively involved with the development of cricket and also participate in our annual cricket week.”
Here the best cricketers get the opportunity to not only compete on provincial level, but also stand the chance to be included in the South African team,” says Lizzie Vogel, national public relations officer of SASAII.
The SA team, consisting of 20 players, attended a coaching camp in Durban in August and finished their preparations during another camp on Monday and Tuesday in Paarl.
Only one Boland player was chosen for the SA team, the bowler Lee Benting of Stellenbosch.
Being the forerunner in the field of cricket development amongst the intellectually impaired, the SA team will definitely go all out to secure the first ever win in this event.
“It is a big step not only for cricket amongst the intellectually impaired, but also for the cricket in general,” says SA team manager, Winston Stubbs.
“The guys play according to the same rules that are prescribed for the normal cricket players.”
Stubbs adds that at this stage the teams, who included many young men, compete in an open category.
“Currently there isn’t enough participation to qualify competing in age categories. But we hope that this will change in the future as the
sport grows in popularity.”
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