Cricket at MAP 2009

By A. Matshiya

Ordinarily a school with out a cricket pitch would not offer cricket. However, it is the Maru-a -Pula way not to stop at the first hurdle. The school has nets and hence much time is spent on batting practice. As it happens batting is our strength and that has served us well against local schools.

This season the U15 team took part in two tournaments and a festival. The first of the tournaments was the Botswana championship which was held at The Learning Centre School in early October. Maru-a-Pula was victorious in all their matches in the round robin event which involved five schools. The U15 team was captained by Dilan Sridan, who is an all rounder and a shrewd strategist! The team which consisted of more than half form ones, was a young one but full of talent and energyl. Huzaifa Babar was a reliable simmer(fast bowler) and pinch-hitter all season. At the Learning Centre the team had the services of two veterans in the form of Sundesh Perreira and Jathukulan. The two batted well and set good platforms from which the juniors could build.

The following weekend the team travelled to Francistown for an international tournament involving Botswana and Zimbabwe schools at John Mackenzie School. Our first game was against Petra school from Bulawayo. Petra proved too strong for our young team despite having a girl in their team and Govind Gopikumar putting up a brave 45 runs. However after that setback MAP recovered and went on to win The Plate following victories against GIS and Crescent school.

The festival in Mafikeng marked the third weekend of cricket on the trot for the team. Fatigue was setting in and this showed in the field. The boys were sluggish and dropped crucial catches. The team lost to Issa and Mafikeng High but beat Sol Plaatjie. Govind’s confidence was at its peak after the previous week’s antics. He stood out once more and was the undisputed prize batsman for our team.

It was a short but intense season that saw our cricket grow and our cricketers mature. Next year should see another good season of cricket for Dilan and the boys.