Bragging rights will be up for grabs on Friday evening when the Itec Knights face the Toyota Cheetahs in an exhibition T20 Cricket match at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein.
It is seldom that cricketers and rugby players go head-to-head on a sporting field, but it tends to provide for good fun and laughter when they do just that.
The Knights are the reigning CSA T20 Knockout champions in South African and, as the sporting code is theirs, they should have not trouble in winning the match; however, the Cheetahs boast some useful cricketers in their ranks.
The fullback of the Cheetahs, Clayton Blommetjies, is a keen cricketer and takes the sport seriously on the occasion that he does get to play. Before he made a move to the Welsh team, Scarlets, some years back in the PRO14, he had established a name for himself as an all-rounder in the local Last Man Standing league. Another good cricketer among the rugby players in the flyhalf, Reinhardt Fortuin, who has just made a return to the playing field following a lengthy injury lay-off.
Fortuin played provincial cricket at age group level and also has the distinction of being the only sportsman to play Varsity Cup rugby and cricket for the University of Stellenbosch Maties. Representing Maties in both sporting codes at first team level is an exceptionally rare achievement and one of the only other players to do so is the Springbok great, Schalk Burger.
Blommetjies told Bloemfontein Courant that they are keen to showcase their talent with the bat and ball in front of spectators.
“I love my cricket and I will play any day I can. I’m really looking forward to it and the boys are also. It’s going to be a nice contest for us. We are also looking forward to the fans that will come out and support both teams and I think it will a lot of fun for all.”
The Knights coach, Allan Donald, told Bloemfontein Courant that the match will be a good opportunity for them to blow off some steam before heading to Gqeberha on Saturday to enter the bio-safe environment ahead of the CSA T20 Challenge that gets underway next week.
“It will be awesome to see 2000 people in the stadium on Friday evening. We can’t wait. The Cheetah players are really excited as you might expect, and so are we. Just before we go away on Saturday morning this will be great to get a bit of fun in the bag before we go to PE and play our first game against the Dolphins next week.”
A limited number of spectators will be allowed to attend the match and Covid-19 protocols will be in place. Tickets are already on sale.
Weather permitting, the match at the Mangaung Oval will get underway at 18:30 on Friday evening. – MORGAN PIEK
