NATALIE THOMPSON
TuksCricket have proven to be one of the most successful Tuks clubs in 2012. The club was crowned TuksSport Club of the Year (shared with TuksNetball) at the TuksSport award evening held in October last year.
Based on their past success, cricket lovers should be excited about the 2012/2013 season.
The 2011/2012 season was a busy one for the players. The season began in December 2011 at the University Sports South Africa week. Having dominated the competition, Tuks ended up sharing the trophy with Maties, even though they topped the log due to their overall higher net run rate. Tuks also successfully defended their Northerns Cricket Union (NCU) Knockout title against CBC Old Boys in March. Tuks won the closely-contested final by two wickets.
March also saw Tuks win the NCU Premier League for the second consecutive season. The team managed to remain unbeaten for 42 games.
The Tuks 1 team continued their success in the National Club Championship, where they represented the Northerns. In an impressive final held at SuperSport Park in April, Tuks ended their remarkable season by beating Maties by six wickets.
Tuks’s 2012/2013 season began last September with the preliminary matches of the NCU Premier League. The league will continue into March this year, with the winners representing the Northerns in the 2013 National Club Championships. As defending champions, Tuks are the favourites to win the league.
Perdeby spoke to Pierre de Bruyn, TuksCricket’s head coach, about the upcoming season and what he expects. He said that they “have had a good start to the season [so far]. This season will be a defining season for the club in many aspects. Tuks [has] lost a few senior players that have moved on to the next level and this season will give opportunities to young talented players in the club to also make a breakthrough in their careers.”
De Bruyn said that TuksCricket is not over-confident, “The competition will be a lot harder,” he said, “We have set high standards the last two seasons and other teams have realized that they will have to meet the benchmark to compete. We are ranked the number one club team in South Africa and will work [hard] to keep it that way. The players are well aware of the challenges ahead of them this season and I have no doubt that we can have another very successful season. The key for us will be to identify the pressure situations and counter them.”
Photo provided
