#Assupol TuksCricket: The battle for supremacy in South African student cricket is on

Posted on October 02, 2017

The question as to who is the best university cricket team in South Africa could be brought to a conclusion on Friday when the USSA A-final is played at the UP-Tuks Oval.
 
Purely judging by what has happened this year it won't be a surprise if Assupol TuksCricket faceoff against Northwest Pukke in the final. They, after all, seemed to be the two in-form teams at the moment.
 
Northwest Pukke is the Red Bull Campus World Champions as well as the Varsity Tournament Champions while Assupol Tuks is the Momentum National Club Champions. The Tuks team has won the Red Bull-title on two previous occasions.
 
The two teams already clashed twice this year. Northwest Pukke managed to hit the winning runs in the Varsity-final with seven balls left to play while Assupol Tuks repaid the favour during the National Club Championships when they scored the winning runs against Pukke with three balls to play.
 
Assupol Tuks and Northwest Pukke will play each other on Wednesday during the round-robin stages of the tournament. Depending on what happens in the rest of the games, there might be a rematch in the final. 
 
Kruger van Wyk (Assupol Tuks head coach) is however quick to point out that it would be foolish to think that the USSA Tournament is just going to be about what two teams do or don't do. 
 
"Cricket at best is a very unpredictable game. There is never a done deal until the last ball is bowled. As far as I am concerned Maties and the University of Johannesburg (UJ), both got a realistic chance to qualify for Friday's final and there might even  be one team that surprises everybody."
 
There is certainly merit in what Van Wyk is saying because at the Varsity Tournament Maties topped the log with UJ finishing third. Northwest Pukke and Assupol Tuks were respectively second and fourth on the log.
 
Van Wyk's biggest challenge at the moment is rebuilding the Assupol Tuks-team, it is a challenge he relishes. 
 
"Just last week Corbin Bosch and Migael Pretorius were selected to play for the Titans which meant I had to find replacements. Not that I am complaining. Our aim at Assupol Tuks, is, after all, to help young players to fulfil their real potential. So it is exciting every time one of our players get selected for higher honours.
 
Tony de Zorzi, the Varsity Tournament-captain, is also currently playing for the Titans which meant that Van Wyk had to appoint the 19-year old Mitchell van Buuren as the Assupol Tuks-captain.
 
Not that captaincy is something new to Van Buuren. He has captained the South African under-19-team.
 
The last thing Van Wyk wants is for Van Buuren to get bogged down by tactical decisions during the USSA Tournament.
 
"I want Mitchell to lead by example scoring runs, if he does that will help to instil confidence to the rest of the team, and he will also be more confident when making his decisions."
 
The USSA Tournaments starts today (Monday, 2 October). Assupol Tuks/'s first game is against UCT at the Irene Villagers Oval.
 
The rest of Monday's A-fixtures are: Pukke vs UJ at Sinovich Park; Maties vs UWC at the TUT Oval; Madibaz vs Kovsies at the Mamelodi Oval.
 
 
 
 
- Author Wilhelm de Swardt

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