Three of those South Africans are old Tukkie cricketers and they have made sure that they impress their various counties.

Mathew Pillans started at TuksCricket in 2010 in the Senior Academy and did a second year in the academy in 2011. During his time at the Academy, Pillans was already a member of the Assupol TuksCricket Elite Squad. He was a stalwart fast bowler for Tuks 1 and was part of the team who won the National Club Championships in 2012 and 2013. In 2012, Pillans made his debut for the Northerns Senior Provincial Team but at the end of 2013, he decided to move down to Natal. There he played for the KZN Inland Senior Provincial team before being contracted as a player for the Sunfoil Dolphins in the 2014/2015 season where his career highlight was taking 10 wickets for 129 runs against the Knights in a Sunfoil Series match. In March 2016, Pillans announced that he had signed a three year contract with Surrey CCC and intended to move to the UK to pursue his career on the county circuit. After joining Surrey he started playing for the Surrey second team but quickly made sure he secured himself a spot in the Surrey first XI at the start of May where he has been playing since.  

Mathew Pillans

Another player who made the move is Graeme van Buuren, who also started his career at Tuks in the Senior Academy in 2009. Graeme then went on to play provincial cricket for the Northerns Senior Provincial Team in 2010 and in the same year made his debut for the Titans where he played up until he made the move. Graeme was a player that you could depend on to win matches with both the bat and ball and made a massive impact on players both on and off the field. In April 2016, Graeme and his wife Hannah – who is a former Performance Trainer for Assupol TuksCricket – moved to England where Graeme signed a county contract with Gloustershire. There he started playing for their second team where he played two games before getting selected for the first side. On debut for the Glouster 1^st XI against Glamorgan, he helped his team secure an improbable victory by taking out the three top order batsmen for 15 runs in 9 overs. Two matches later, van Buuren also stood out when he scored 172* against Worcestershire in their win against them. After his first month with the county, Graeme was awarded the Player of the Month at Glouster for the month of May.

Graeme van Buuren

The third player who is making a name for himself on the UK County scene is Sean Dickson. Sean also joined the TuksCricket Senior Academy in 2011 and from there started his studies at Tuks studying a BA Psychology degree. Dickson quickly ensured that he became a permanent member of the Elite Squad as a middle order batsman who consistently performed in all formats of the game. He was also a dependable member of the team in all University competitions such as USSA, the Red Bull Campus Cricket SA finals and was part of the winning team at the 2014 Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals in England. Dickson made his debut for the Northerns Senior Provincial side in 2013 and at the end of 2014; Sean was also selected for the SA USSA side. After finishing his studies he decided to make the move to England in March 2015 and soon became a regular in the Kent 2^nd XI with consistent good performances. During the season he signed a professional county contract with Kent which carries on till September this year. In August 2015 Dickson made his debut for the Kent 1^st XI against Derbyshire and has since played the majority of his matches for the county’s first side. At the end of 2015, Dickson won the National 2^nd XI Player of the Year Award, presented each year by the Association of Cricket Statisticians. During a Kent 1^st XI match against Leistershire, he got himself in the record books by becoming the 60^th person in history to get dismissed for handling the ball. After that Dickson scored an incredible 207* in Kent’s match against Derbyshire and is continuing to make a name for himself on the county circuit. 

Sean Dickson

Assupol TuksCricket will continue to follow the successes of their old players and wish them all the best with their future endeavors. 

Assupol TuksCricket: Momentum National Club Champs Winning Team 2013 included Mathew Pillans, Graeme van Buuren and Sean Dickson