The young roadside cricketers who bowled over an SA legend

When cricket coach Gift Khuzwayo and cricket legend Pat Symcox saw one another across a dusty makeshift cricket pitch right next to the N2 where it runs past an equally dusty village, there was instant recognition.

Pat Symcox surprised a group of youngsters playing cricket on the side of the N2 highway on the south coast.
Pat Symcox surprised a group of youngsters playing cricket on the side of the N2 highway on the south coast. (Pat Symcox)

When cricket coach Gift Khuzwayo and cricket legend Pat Symcox saw one another across a dusty makeshift cricket pitch right next to the N2 where it runs past an equally dusty village, there was instant recognition.

Symcox had, on a whim, stopped to chat to a group of youngsters playing cricket there – then he realised it had been a younger Khuzwayo who had gone looking for Symcox few years back to ask for help to establish a cricket club.