Umlazi cricketers bowled over by Dolphins’ Mandela Day effort

The Sunfoil Dolphins stars, KZN Cricket Academy youngsters and KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union admin and ground staff lent a helping hand in support of Monday’s Mandela Day as they contributed towards the refurbishment of the Umlazi Comtech High School and Umlazi Cricket Club’s clubhouse.

Joining the day’s global movement of helping those in need and changing the world for the better, the Dolphins spent much of Monday 18 July with a paintbrush, hammer, drill or other tools in hand, revamping the Durban South township’s primary cricket facility.

“Mandela Day is a hugely important occasion and being involved in a day like today is massive for us as a franchise and also for us as a team,” said Sunfoil Dolphins head coach, Grant Morgan.

“I’ve been really happy with what our Dolphins guys have done here today. they’ve gotten stuck in and contributed, which is great to see,” he added.

Team culture is a key theme for the recently appointed Dolphins coach, as is giving back to those in need.

“I don’t want our guys to feel like they’re doing people a favour when they’re helping out, it should be in someone’s DNA to do something like this. It shouldn’t take a Mandela Day to get us involved.

“I’d like to see this sort of thing happening more often and so we’re already trying to take ourselves to the schools whereby we will be training at their grounds and get involved with the local communities.”

Under the supervision of the Hollywoodbets maintenance staff, the 70-strong group’s working teams enjoyed their time painting the exterior of the clubhouse, sanding and painting the doors inside, replacing the fascia boards and gutters, installing new exterior lights and new countertops as well as throwing concrete slabs for the repositioning of water tanks.

The project also included the recent laying of two new astro turf crickets nets next to the clubhouse, further enhancing the opportunity for Umlazi’s future stars and social cricketers alike to enjoy an enhanced cricketing experience.

Through the contributions of Spur Steak Ranches and Coo-ee Soft Drinks, over 1000 Umlazi Comtech school pupils and local community members enjoyed a delicious lunchtime meal – served to them by Sunfoil Dolphins captain, Morne van Wyk, Craig Alexander and Brandon Scullard – while many budding young stars enjoyed one of the many games of mini cricket on the field or the opportunity to test their skills against Dolphins stars, Mthokozisi Shezi and Vaughn van Jaarsveld in the newly laid nets.