BITTERHOUT Street in Langa used their home team advantage to beat Mitchell’s Plain’s Eastridge in a nail-bitting finish to the 2007 Pinnacle Point Street Cricket League in Langa on Friday 23rd November.

After some hard fought games, with desperate runs being sought in the last overs, the finals ended with a bowl out between the two teams in the final. Bitterhout Street of Langa, were crowned victors with a total of two wickets to one in a four ball bowling shootout, bringing the Pinnacle Point Street Cricket League Trophy home to Langa for the first time in the League’s four year history.

Passionate cricket was watched by crowds of supporters who lined Langa’s Washington and Harlem streets, chanting and cheering with every ball bowled.

SA cricketer Justin Kemp joined former South African cricket stars Gary Kirsten and Paul Adams, along with the entire Cape Cobras team, who took time out from the practice nets to encourage the young cricket hopefuls.

Over the past six weeks community cricket clubs and sports organisations in association with Sporting Chance, have organised weekly matches between opposing teams in the Cape Town communities of Langa, Khayelitsha, Elsies River, Nyanga, Manenberg, Gugulethu, Langa, Kwezi, and Mitchell’s Plain, as well as in the Mossel Bay communities of Kwa Nonqaba, D’Almeida and Civic Park.

Excited finalists from Mossel Bay set off for the event early on Friday morning, in what for many was their first trip to the Mother City. Although they went home without the winner’s trophy, they were treated to a trip up Table Mountain before heading back to Mossel Bay.

Each team is made up of ten children, all under-eleven, with at least two members of each team being girls and all having attended school throughout the year prior to the start of the tournament.

Facilitated by Sporting Chance, the programme encourages kids to get involved in sport as an alternative to gangs and drugs, which plague many of these communities. “It’s a way of giving kids something to play for while at the same time providing an opportunity to discover talented players,” said Brad Bing who together with Ezra Cagwe – Western Province Cricket development coordinator – conceptualized the street cricket league four years ago.

Through support from sponsors Pinnacle Point Holdings, Disney Enterprises and The City of Cape Town, Sporting Chance employs street cricket league facilitators, produces team t-shirts and supplies bats, balls and recycled metal drums that act as wickets.

Coaches and managers are drawn from within the community, with many parents actively assisting in organising the matches, a significant factor in the success of the programme to date.

“The zeal and enthusiasm shown by the children and the passionate encouragement from friends and family who are keen spectators is fantastic and goes a long way to bringing communities together” said Dave McGregor of title sponsors, Pinnacle Point Holdings.

“It’s lots of fun and there’s great rivalry between opposing team supporters – everyone gets into the spirit of the game”, said Bing.

Patron of the Pinnacle Point Street Cricket League, Protea’s and Cape Cobra’s spin bowler Paul “Gogga” Adams, said, “It is an absolute honour for me to be patron of this exciting initiative that has grown each year. The introduction this year of trophies for winners in certain regions has been an added incentive for more children to get involved. It is also heartening to see sponsors willing to invest more into it, and great to see that local government is getting behind these projects as well. I look forward to this league spreading to the rest of the country in years to come.”

2007 League Trophies

Teams in Nyanga played for the Joseph Thejane Cup, which was won this year by Nongquase Street, in memory of the dynamic community leader, cricket coach and WP umpire who worked tirelessly with young children until his tragic death earlier this year.

In Langa, street cricketers played for the Ezra Cagwe Cup, which was awarded to the team from Bitterhout Street, and in Khayelitsha the Biko Street team won Downside Cup in recognition of the donation by Tony McLennan on behalf of Downside School in England.

Gugulethu children played for the Marland Cup in recognition of the donation from Lord Marland, with honours going to eventual winners NY 153.

The winning teams in the regional finals this year were:-