NCC executes glittering gala event and fourball golf tourney with Proteas players with aplomb
Former and active Proteas players and administrators on Friday morning teed off in the Northern Cape Cricket’s MVD Kalahari sponsored fourball IPS format tournament hosted by the Kimberley Golf club which was part of the franchise’s gala function.
The former Proteas cricket players and administrators had on Thursday evening graced the NCC’s gala dinner which was held at the Diamond Oval auditorium in Cassandra.
Among the union’s VIP guests were former Proteas and Lancashire player Alviro Petersen as well as former player and captain Ashwell Prince. Former fast bowlers, Kimberley based Loots Bosman and current Proteas convenor Victor Mpitsang were also in attendance.
The players had on Thursday evening revelled in being auctioned off to any of the sponsored golf fourball teams along with Proteas memorabilia they had donated to the gala event’s fund-raising drive.
Some of the items on auction included a framed, playing T-shirt of the current Proteas team as well as a cricket bat autographed by the late SA captain Hasie Cronjé. On auction also was a picture collage dating back to the much hyped SA versus Australia tour of March 2006 in Johannesburg where the Proteas had won by one wicket with one ball remaining.
Cricket SA president Rihan Richards in his address referred to the collage as being of the “controversial 439 match” against Australia. In further remarks Richards, reacting to a question about whether Kimberley would be considered to host any match of the upcoming cricket Under-19 World Cup, said the matter would be considered by CSA.
Mark Charlton, Northern Cape Heat head coach, in his address at the event revealed that the union had lost six of their players to franchises in the A division. Notable among the departures was that of the big hitting Evan Jones who joined the Highveld Lions.
Charlton also revealed two sets of kits sponsored by sports apparel merchant BAS, one black and the other red and black, that the team will wear during games.
Charlton emphasised the need for significant and sustained corporate sponsorship for the team. He said such sponsorship will help deter other franchises from raiding the best from less endowed unions such as NCC.
However, Charlton said he was positively looking forward to the upcoming cricket season as his team has considerable prospects of making it into the senior franchises league.
In terms of memorabilia offered up to auction at the gala some of the items on display were from Proteas and Highveld Lions player Rassie van der Dussen as well as from Aiden Markram and Loots Bosman.
The jersey put up for auction by Bosman, and which was signed by a bunch of his teammates, had easily raked in the highest prize of the evening’s bidding fetching R15,500.
The Australian tour’s “439” picture collage put up by Ashwell Prince received the second highest bid at R10,000. The Proteas jersey went to a bidder for R8,650. The late Hansie Cronjé’s bat proved somewhat of a hot potato.
The auctioneer Riswaan “Wannie” Engelbrecht had set the reserve prize at R5,000 for the item but cautioned that the cricket board directors in the audience were mulling over whether to sell the bat or not.
Bids for the bat opened and immediately shot to R6,500 but then seemed to hit a hesitancy among the bidders. The board then decided to withdraw the item.
The NCC’s corporate sponsors to the two-day event include: MVD Kalahari, House 75A, Itec, Northern Cape Heat, Northern Cape Tourism, Standard Bank, Cell C, Beefmasters and Mercedes Benz.
