Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Modise: Cricket Botswana’s rising star

Karabo Modise has been officially chosen as a spinner for the Botswana National Cricket Squad and it is clear that the lad will go far.

The 19-year-old, who is a first year student at Port Elizabeth University in South Africa, has been described as a role model for younger cricketers and those in the developmental stages sponsored by the Botswana Cricket Association (BCA).

“Karabo is a good example of what children should be looking up to, especially cricketers, and he is really an inspiration to the young ones,” said Girish Ramakrishna, treasurer of the BCA on the sidelines of the Under 13 girls’ cricket final held at the Botswana Cricket Club.

Modise’s road with cricket started when he was in Standard 4 at Thornhill Primary School in Gaborone when he was only 8 years old.
Luckily for him, English medium schools had already signed up cricket as an official sport. He continued playing until he enrolled in Maruapula where his full talents were exposed to Batswana.

Modise has played for Botswana Under 13s, 15s, 17s and the Under 19 teams.

He says the squad has recently been to the International Cricket tournament held in Jersey, UK. The squad played 6 matches and won 3, which is quite an achievement, considering the talent portrayed by the teams that were part of the competition.

Modise says cricket, mostly with the help of the BCA, has exposed him to international sport. One of their training camps was held in Kenya and another one in Malawi while he was still in the Under 17 squad.

Modise told The Sunday Standard that he is where he is today with cricket because of the support of the BCA committee.

“They have been doing excellent administration work, and they go all out when organizing events for cricket players; they definitely know what they are doing,” said Modise.

Asked what he plans to make of his cricket career in the future, Modise takes a modest approach.
“As far as I can possibly go.”
He is also impressed by efforts by his old school, Maruapula, to introduce cricket to government schools. He remembers incidents in 2005 where the school would sponsor events whereby the cricketers were to go to schools and sensitize them to the sport that is now slowly making its way into the hearts of Batswana.

Modise says his inspiration is from the man who helped him realize his full potential, Mike Issein, the man who used to be his coach and is now deputy headmaster at Broadhurst Primary School.
His words of encouragement to all sportsmen and women are that it takes hard work and effort to get to a stage where one’s work starts bearing fruit.

RELATED STORIES

Read this week's paper