Mojadife Primary School’s cricketers recently became this year’s reigning junior league cricket champions.
The finals were between Mojadife and Itumeleng with the outcomes showing Mojadife as the emergent winner, with its runner-up being Itumeleng Primary School.
Philip Moshotle School obtained third position.
The feat comes after a month of intense competition with eleven other primary schools from Gaborone and villages on the outskirts of the city.
Mogobane School had even brought along its chief, Kgosi Moilwa, the councilor, Kgosiemang, and its school head for support, showing how seriously they take improving the standard of the sport for the sake of their children.
The tournament marks the growth of the developmental programme aimed at government aided schools that started beginning of last year.
The drastic improvement and progression of the Botswana Cricket Association (BCA)’s developmental programme has now captured the interest of important sports and societal figures, such as the vice chairperson of the Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC), Dr Nomsa Mbere, who braced the event to support the BCA’s efforts and award the winners their prizes.
“I am quite impressed by the efforts of these personnel from the BCA, for its evident that they are determined to bring Botswana together through cricket. I am sure they have even used their personal finances for the teams to have gotten this far. The teachers should also be up for mention because of their spirit of volunteerism,” said Mbere.
Girish Ramakrishna, treasure for the BCA told the Sunday Standard that they will be introducing cricket to Maun residents as of next week.
“Interest level in cricket in Botswana has grown tremendously and so has the performance of the young cricketers as we have witnessed today,” said Ramakrishna.
In a once off, the awards were focused on the month long tournament as there were cricketers in the teams who were not in a strong position to win, but who, nevertheless, stood out with above average performances.
The most impressive and eye catching pair of the tournament is the dynamic duo from Mojadife Primary, identical twins Tshepho and Tshephang Dexter.
Tshepho received a gold medal and trophies ranging from Man of the Tournament, Best Fielder and Man of the Match while his twin, Tshephang, received a gold medal and a trophy for Best Bowler.
The emerging player award went to Obakeng Amen.
To add more excitement to the participants and their parents’ pleasure, the BCA awarded cricket kits and equipment, such as bats and helmets, to all the teams involved in the tournament.
