The Khaya Majola Week is the beautiful face of SA Cricket

It’s been unseasonably cold and damp in the KZN Midlands the last two days, although some are saying it’s often that way up here over Christmas and that Town Hill is a merciful barrier between this part of the world at the heat and humidity of Durban and the coastal belt. It’s been dry enough to play cricket, though, and the three centuries and six five-wicket hauls notched up on day 1 of the Khaya Majola Week on Monday show that the 300-odd under-19 boys in action here this week are in the mood for it.

Whenever I’m at this tournament, I’m dumbstruck by the hordes of grown up people who have given up a week of their hard-earned leave - the week before Christmas, no less - to organise and run an event for 17 and 18 year-olds, with no remuneration. In fact in many cases it will be costing them money to be here.

The Khaya Majola Week is run with military precision. A local organising committee has been working all year on the arrangements and Morgan Pillay, the week's permanent secretary and the tournament director, will be keeping an eye on things, and using his charm and particular brand of emotional blackmail to get people to do extraordinary things beyond the call of why they got involved in the first place. 

Cricket South Africa’s manager of youth and amateur cricket Niels Momberg’s formidable presence is also always there, looming in the background, refusing to accept excuses, and not suffering fools gladly.

The upshot is that for the kids it’s a seamless week of fun in the sun. The fields are always immaculate, and alternatives miraculously appear if and when rain spoils the party; there are umpires; scorers; drinks and lunches and transportation to the many far-flung fields that a tournament of this scale requires.

The school fields that I was at on the first day, at Michaelhouse and Hilton, on Monday have to rate among the most beautiful I’ve seen, and I’ve seen most of them in this country. The distances between them are considerable, but they are linked by the scenic roads of the Midlands Meander, there are worse areas to be driving through.

And at the heart of it all are the teacher volunteers. They spend hours running the game at their own schools and then find more time to attend trials, select and prune squads, coach and manage teams through pre-tournament friendlies and then give up their holidays. Luckily, very few of them are unionised, Sadtu wouldn’t allow that sort of abuse of its members.

They make up the numbers in every rank of the organising structures: local committee, organisers, lunch ladies, umpires and hostel staff where the boys are staying.

And in the process, hangers-on like me are treated royally and, thanks to Morgan Pillay in particular, made to feel welcome and appreciated.

It’s what makes the Khaya Majola Week the envy of the other cricket-playing nations. If the ugly underbelly of South African cricket was exposed last week, this week it's turning its fairest face to the (somewhat watery) sunlight of the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.

Day 1’s summarised scorecards:

KwaZulu-Natal Inland first innings 151 (Michael Booth 30, Nicholas Hatten 29; Merrick Brett 4/19, Zeeshan Ismail 2/27); Northerns first innings 174 (Jordan Hermann 115; Sanele Mbatha 3/19, Michael Booth 3/29, Michael Frost 3/57). Northerns won on first innings.

Eastern Province first innings 250/8 (James Mullins 95, Luke Beaufort 56, Nicholas Keevy 39; Nathan Jacobs 6/46); Boland first innings 157/9 (Johann Smal 68, Nathan Engelbrecht 37; Tiaan van Vuuren 3/18, Ethan Frosler 3/18). Match Drawn.

Free State first innings 200 (JP Coetzee 61, Ruan Cronjé 42, Michael Kershaw 28; Sebastian de Oliveira 3/22); Gauteng first innings 236/5 (Levert Manje 81*, Jack Lees 51, Nick Halstead-Cleak 30, Cameron Rowe 28); Free State second innings 34/2 (Marco de Kock 24*). Gauteng won on first innings.

Western Province first innings 231/7 (Daniel Smith 130, Lehan Botha 39; Joshua Stocks 2/28); KwaZulu-Natal first innings 136/3 (Francis Moran 51*, Thulani Chiliza 33, Cade Carmichael 30; Raees Carr 2/31). Match Drawn.

South Western Districts first innings 231/8 (Heath Richards 117, Jhedli van Briesies 51; Boitumelo Melesi 3/51, Elrich Cloete 3/87); Northern Cape first innings 154 (Orapeleng Mothlhoaring 64, Joshua Barends 40; Heath Richards 5/1). South Western Districts won on first innings.

Mpumalanga first innings 131 (Kyle Klesse 25; Leander Lubbe 5/27, Saahil Khan 2/15); Easterns first innings 148/8 (WP Myburgh 52*, Adriaan de Vries 45; Zuan Swart 2/14, Akhulile Makatu 2/17). Mpumalanga 8/0. Easterns won on first innings.

North West first innings 166 (Estiaan Schonfeldt 58, Francois Viviers 27; Stefan Bezuidenhout 5/28); Namibia first innings 154 (Ramon Wilmot 42, JC Balt 35; Karabelo Matlawe 4/39, Odirile Modikoane 3/25); North West second innings 39/0 (Paballo Sibande 18*). North West won on first innings.

Limpopo first innings 77 (Saba Mridha 31; Lilitha Reed 5/9, Nonelela Yikha 2/9); Border first innings 103 (Nonelela Yikha 49; Thomas Mayes 5/14, Tiaan Enslin 2/2, Ricardo Booysen 2/17); Limpopo second innings 70/5 (Nhlamulo Mboweni 22; Nqaba Peter 2/3); Border second innings 45/3 (Nonelela Yikha 17*; Gerhardus Fourie 2/4). Border won outright.