In sport, any sport, there are those who excel and those that struggle. Ferrari and Barcelona are not in the same league as Lotus and Derby County.
But then there are those that are nearly there. Those teams that are too good for the minnows, but not good enough for the big time.
In the Gauteng Club Cricket league, Wits University is one of those teams.
However, things are slowly changing for the men in blue. A new coach has been appointed, senior players have left, leaving the door open for hungry replacements, and the energy around the club has a sense of new beginnings.
There are challenges and issues that need to be addressed before Wits can return to the glory days. Depth of talent is a problem, with many of the bigger clubs like Old Eds and Glenvista attracting young players.
To address this, Wits has launched a 20/20 inter schools knockout tournament featuring some of the top schools in the city.
Marius Henn, a senior sports administrator at Wits feels the university has not done enough to promote themselves amongst pupils and recruit cricket talent from high schools.
“We cannot compete financially with other universities in the area to attract top notch athletes; however we need to make the schools aware that we also provide sport here with top facilities.”
With the chance to play on a top class field (the International Cricket Council has hosted international matches on the Walter Milton Oval) these school boys will get to experience firsthand what Wits cricket can offer.
Teams included feature Jeppe High, St John’s College and Parktown High.
The final will take place at Wits on 20 September 2011.
An invitational side will be selected at the end of the competition, which will play against the Wits first cricket side at a future date still to be determined.
