Komani Royals are aiming high despite rain dampening season

The Border amateur cricket league season is on a break before looking to next year. The Rep caught up with Komani Royals skipper, Anathi Joe, and asked how his team has found the first half.

Royals is the only team in Komani playing in the Border promotional league, the second-highest league in the province.

The team, which started the season with high ambitions, has had to deal with bad weather with four of its six matches rained out.

It has been a really bad. We have not had enough time to play. It is costing us points,” said Joe.

The vexed skipper said the team had set its targets on promotion to the Border premier league, confident that they are the best team in the region.

Our plan was to win all our games with bonus points.”

The team has, however, had a positive result in the past week, with five of its players, including Joe, selected for the Border country team that played at the Cricket South Africa Coastal Week.

Vice-captain Mkululi Takane, Keith Kroutz, Irish Ndaba and Jeandre Smith all travelled to George.

It meant a lot to us. It means there is potential in the team. We hoped to have more in the team, but it was a good experience and we enjoyed ourselves.”

For the past seven years the team has been independent, having moved away from being an umbrella team that selects the best players from the Komani internal league.

Joe said the team was also looking forward, grooming young players to be part of the first team set-up.

It is hard to get all the players to practice because some have families and other responsibilities. I have been recruiting young men from around Komani to join. There are challenges, but it has been good because cricket is about having fun.”

Komani Royals are currently third in the Border promotional league.

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