Slabbert helped to set up a proud tradition at TuksCricket

A proud era in TuksCricket came to an end when Martin Slabbert captained the “Weekend Warriors” for the very last time in a game against Defence.

For the past ten years, he has been the mainstay of the Tuks’s “Weekend Warriors” campaign. And what a campaign it turned out to be. The team represented Tuks in various of the Northerns Cricket leagues winning more often than losing.

Unfortunately due to him emigrating to New Zealand Slabbert had to relinquish the captaincy of possibly one of the most successful teams ever in the 100-year history of TuksCricket.

With Slabbert leading from the front the team played a total of 143 matches winning on no less than 108 occasions scoring 28 541 runs and taking 1 231 wickets. The team’s highest score was 621/8 during a 45 over match against Mamelodi. Another remarkable performance was scoring 463/5 against Pretoria East.

Slabbert represented Tuks on131 occasions scoring a total of 5123 runs at an average of 44.5. It included 12 centuries and 27 fifties while taking 116 wickets with his leg-spin deliveries. His best bowling performance was 5/52.

He is quite adamant that just because they are considered to be “Weekend Warriors” it does not mean they are any less passionate about the game.

“The biggest differences between the professional players and us are finding time to be fully committed. Each of us would love to have more time to play and train, but because most of us are working full time, or studying or might have families, it is not possible. Therefore we believe making the most of every minute when we got to play. Believe me, there is a no bigger honour than stepping on to the field wearing the Tuks badge.”

The team officially only practises once a week. It is on Fridays; however, it is not mandatory. Of greater importance are having eleven players take to the field on match days. Slabbert is quite proud that in the time he captained Tuks they were always able to field 11 players.  There were times when it got tricky, but in the end, a nephew of nephew always arrived in the nick of time to help out. He describes the team as being a “band of brothers” in a real sense.

“Our team composition is quite unique. We got quite a few different nationalities playing for us. Our youngest player is 18 and the eldest 42. Some of us are doctors, other engineers or attorneys. We also got students playing. But none of this matters. When we step onto the field only one thing matters focussing on bat and ball trying to win.”