Moorosi Tsiane
THE Lesotho Cricket Association (LCA) hosted Bloemfontein’s VKB Knights last weekend for a friendly match and a coaching clinic for 200 children at Lesotho High School Oval.
LCA media liaison officer Clifford Molefe told the Lesotho Times this week that they started with the coaching clinic before VKB Knights beat the Lesotho national team by 105. Lesotho scored 130/10 while the visitors registered 235 runs for just three wickets.
Molefe said the weekend activities are the fruits of their relations with the Free State Cricket Union (FSCU) aimed at developing local cricket.
“We had an eventful day on Sunday at Lesotho High School where VKB Knights players, our senior national team players and instructors held a coaching clinic for about 200 children aged eight to 15 years.
“We are in a partnership with FSCU to develop the sport locally and them bringing us a team to play was part of that partnership.”
He said playing VKB Knights was great exposure for their players.
“VKB Knights are a professional team. They have been in camp in Durban where they have been playing friendlies while preparing for their league which starts next month.
“They play in the FSCU league, so playing against them helped expose our players. The match was less about winning but more inclined to experience,” he said.
Molefe said while they were happy that the event was a success, they expected more children but the numbers were affected by the ongoing teachers’ strike.
“The event was a success except that we had anticipated to have more children. However, the teachers strike affected us as these kids come from all the schools we have been working with through our development officer Lekoatsa Chaka,” he said.
He added that they would travel to Bloemfontein before the end of the year for another clinic.
“We have forged good relations with FSCU who have an event next month, so we are going send selected kids to that clinic. Also, our development officer will continue working with schools to see that the kids do not stop playing,” Molefe said.
