Ntini's Lord's legacy to inspire young skipper

TONIGHT, Masixole Mkrakra, the captain of the Tiger Titans cricket club of Nolukhanyo township outside Bathurst in the Eastern Cape, will be flying to London with two chaperones.

The furthest he's travelled beyond Nolukhanyo until now is Kimberley.

On Wednesday night, Mkrakra will be speaking to 180 guests at Lord's, the gala dinner being part of a fundraiser for the Duke of Edinburgh's fellowship, a philanthropic initiative aimed at using sport to improve the life of marginal communities around the world. Prince Phillip will be there, as will the Earl of Wessex, Boris Becker and John Smit.

Mkrakra will talk of growing up an orphan, being raised by an aunt in an RDP house with eight others. He will talk of the Tiger Titans' growth from a small club of 30-odd members four years ago to a club of almost 100-strong now. He will speak about one of the club's first fixtures when St Andrews sent a bus from Grahamstown to Bathurst to bring back the Tiger Titans under-14s; the wager was that the "Tigans" would get walloped; they won.

"The match was a request and a challenge at the same time," says Martin Scholtz, who is accompanying Mkrakra and club founder Ross McCreath to Lord's.

Other than telling stories of familiar hardship, Mkrakra wants to see the Lord's honours board. He will scan it for Makhaya Ntini's name, the result of the Mdingi boy's 10-wicket haul at Lord's in 2003. I imagine that when he sees Ntini's name it will be something like the closing of a circle, an arrival and a departure all at once.

"All the boys at the club believe we're going to produce another Protea like Ntini," says Anne McCreath, the club's shining light, main benefactor and Ross's mother.

McCreath jnr founded the club in the December holidays of 2007. Petty crime and indigence was rife in Nolukhanyo and the family domestic complained of the impoverishment of township life. "There's a story of a township boy being stabbed for a pair of soccer boots - we didn't want that to happen again," says McCreath.

The club have overcome their early obstacles, yet more barriers remain. Despite their Jack Cheetham award in 2010, worth R500000 over five years, they struggle financially. Cricket balls are expensive and kit gets taken to the McCreath farm to be washed. "Our one tree at the ground is a boerboom - we use it as our clubhouse," says Anne. "There's no running water. We have to shoo the cattle off the field and clean up the poo. We desperately need nets."

The club plays a vital role in township life because it provides structure and offers hope. Unemployment in the area is high - most local work involves picking pineapples and is seasonal - and neither the high nor junior school in the township provide any sport. This season, the club fielded seven sides, three juniors, four seniors, and their best side are doing well in the Grahamstown league.

Still, none of the promises of support the Tiger Titans received when they appeared on Carte Blanche for the first time materialised. The club is better off than it was a few of years ago, but still not where it needs to be.

It also appears to stand at a slight angle to the prevailing wind at EP Cricket. Perhaps it is because the Titans have been so successful in promoting themselves and their cause; perhaps it is because there are those still poorer and more deserving, although this is somehow difficult to imagine.