IT is just after 3 p.m. on a Friday and the 22-year-old Sinelethu Yaso is in her happy place. Her flawless cricket white jumps against the synthetic green turf, while the cheerful rhythms of Kwito music on the breeze are faltering while they bowl in it.
Beyond the border, in the Makhaza area of Khayelitsha Township, in the Cape Flats in South Africa, flutters on a wire fence and the September sun reflects from a Golfd-IJzer-Lan-To-Too.
The tall young woman is told to easily go with her opponents and boys’ team under the age of 13 the flawless line and the length of Yaso are sufficient to induce three consecutive fluctuations and mistakes.
On the fourth ball of the over, the batsman finally makes contact. All he can do is create Yaso, who casually takes the catch.
Gary Kirsten, an ex-South African test cricket player and international coach, looks at the competition from his plastic chair on the sidelines. “There is incredible talent in the townships,” he says. “What is missing is a chance.”
The players on the field are all beneficiaries of a non-profit organization that Kirsten started by Kirsten in 2014. The establishment of a charity after he retired from the game is not unusual but Kirsten’s approach is.
Instead of trying to find talented players in the townships and then give them trade fairs to rich schools or universities in privileged areas, the Catch trust It is about bringing world -class facilities to the townships.
Yaso was first introduced in Cricket in 2015. “My dance teacher was also a cricket coach,” she says. “One day I walked past the nets and he asked me if I wanted to bowl.”
Yaso – who has always been a head bigger than her colleagues – turned out to be a natural. Under the custody of Babalwa “Babs” Zothe, who has led the women’s program for four years, Yaso has quickly risen through the ranks and plays for a series of age group teams before he was chosen to represent the Senior team of the Western Province in 2021.
“In the beginning I felt busy, as if I had to perform,” she says, when playing on Newlands, the international land of Cape Town. “But over time I became comfortable. I know how the pitch moves … It actually fits my style.”
Yaso comes to catch almost every day, whether she has a practice session or not: ‘I can’t imagine my life without a cricket.
“It was not a child’s dream,” she says, “but now with the crew around me it is more than cricket – it’s like I made family.”
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It started in 2014, when Kirsten collaborated with Madoda Mahlutshana, then director of Chris Hani Secondary School, to visit eight schools in Khayelitsha, the largest municipality in Cape Town.
“I just finished coaching the Proteas [South Africa men’s cricket team]So I had some time in my hands, “says Kirsten.” I thought there was a chance to see how this sport of us worked in the townships near my house. “
Kirsten was disappointed to discover that none of the schools he visited, cricket played – or another sport by the way. After talking to the administrative bodies of the schools and had used his cricket contacts to secure financing, he had cricket nets built in five schools in the area and three employees.
Over the years, Kirsten has improved the facilities -With the artificial pitch laid in 2020 and an inner current center a year later and expanded the program with teachers who help the children with their homework and frequent workshops on topics such as mental and reproductive health and financial well-being. Now 18 coaches and more than 400 players from six to 19 years old make six or seven days a week the use of the center throughout the year.
Like Zothe, the coach’s coach, says: “Most of those children are not going to earn a living from cricket, but they all benefit from cricket. This facility is like a dream … it’s a home for all of us.”
Kirsten says: “I was lucky that Cricket gave me everything, this is my chance to give something back.”
One of the opportunities that Cricket Kirsten gave was the chance to tour internationally and to experience various countries and cultures. While Elite schools in South Africa regularly take cricket teams on tour abroad, Township Cricketers are lucky if they ever leave their own neighborhood.
In 2019, during the Heren World Cup, Kirsten brought a catch -through boy’s team to the UK. “It was one of the highlights of my cricket life,” says Kirsten – a man who scored 21 tests for centuries and India coached the world cup title.
In June, to coincide with the World Cup Ladies T20, he falls to a girls’ team to the birthplace of Cricket. “I’ve always wanted to go to England,” says Yaso, who hopes to be picked as a senior player or mentor. “It is a dream I have waited for … it means everything.”
Zothe is just as excited. “It will be a great cultural exchange. The girls will experience British culture and they also get the chance to share their culture,” she says.
“We can’t wait – it will be the best experience for the children. And also for me.”
Zothe is also emotional. “As a coach it is a privilege to have someone like Gary call,” she says. “The fact that Gary has built the facilities here, in Khayelitsha, means the world to us. It means that he appreciates a black child and the environment where they come from.”
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