\n<\/p>\n
I<\/span>t\u2019s just after 3pm on a Friday and 22-year-old Sinelethu Yaso is in her happy place. Her spotless cricket whites pop against the synthetic green turf, while the upbeat rhythms of kwaito music waft on the breeze as she ambles in to bowl.<\/p>\n Beyond the boundary, in the Makhaza area of Khayelitsha township, in South Africa\u2019s Cape Flats, laundry flutters on a wire fence and the September sun reflects off a corrugated-iron lean-to.<\/p>\n <\/span>The bowler, Sinelethu Yaso, takes a catch in a game against the Catch Trust\u2019s U13 boys\u2019 team<\/span><\/p>\n The tall young woman has been told to go easy on her opponents \u2013 an under-13 boys\u2019 team \u2013 but Yaso\u2019s impeccable line and length are enough to induce three consecutive swings and misses.<\/p>\n On the fourth ball of the over, the batsman finally makes contact. All he can do is spoon it up to Yaso, who nonchalantly takes the catch.<\/p>\n <\/span>Gary Kirsten, a retired South African player, watches the game<\/span><\/p>\n Watching the game from his plastic chair on the sidelines is Gary Kirsten, an ex-South African test cricketer and international coach. \u201cThere\u2019s some incredible talent in the townships,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat\u2019s lacking is opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n The players on the pitch are all beneficiaries of a not-for-profit organisation started by Kirsten in 2014. Establishing a charitable foundation after retiring from the game is not unusual \u2013 but Kirsten\u2019s approach is.<\/p>\n Instead of trying to find talented players in the townships and then give them scholarships to wealthy schools or universities in privileged areas, the Catch Trust is all about bringing world-class facilities into the townships.<\/p>\n Yaso was first introduced to cricket in 2015. \u201cMy dance teacher was also a cricket coach,\u201d she says. \u201cOne day I walked past the nets, and he asked me if I wanted to bowl.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Bowler Sinelethu Yaso with her team\u2019s coach, Babalwa \u2018Babs\u2019 Zothe, after the practice match<\/span><\/p>\n Yaso \u2013 who has always been a head taller than her peers \u2013 proved to be a natural. Under the tutelage of Babalwa \u201cBabs\u201d Zothe, who has led the women\u2019s programme for four years, Yaso has risen swiftly through the ranks, playing for a string of age-group teams before being chosen to represent the Western Province senior team in 2021.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the beginning I felt pressure, like I had to perform,\u201d she says, on playing at Newlands, Cape Town\u2019s international ground. \u201cBut after time I got comfortable. I know how the pitch moves \u2026 it suits my style actually.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Sinelethu Yaso delivers the ball against one of the Catch Trust\u2019s U13 boys\u2019 team<\/span><\/p>\n Yaso comes to Catch almost every day, whether or not she has a practice session: \u201cI can\u2019t imagine my life without cricket.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a childhood dream,\u201d she says, \u201cbut now with the crew around me, it is more than cricket \u2013 it\u2019s like I\u2019ve made family.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Sign up to Global Dispatch<\/span><\/p>\n Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n I was lucky in that cricket gave me everything. Now\u2019s my chance to give something backGary Kirsten<\/p>\n It began in 2014, when Kirsten teamed up with Madoda Mahlutshana, then principal of Chris Hani secondary school, to tour eight schools in Khayelitsha, the largest township in Cape Town.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d just finished coaching the Proteas [South Africa men\u2019s cricket team], so I had some time on my hands,\u201d says Kirsten. \u201cI thought there was an opportunity to see how this sport of ours was working in the townships near my home.\u201d<\/p>\n Kirsten was disappointed to discover that none of the schools he visited played cricket \u2013 or any sport for that matter. After speaking to the schools\u2019 governing bodies and using his cricketing contacts to secure funding, he got cricket nets built at five schools in the area and three coaches employed.<\/p>\n <\/span>Gary Kirsten, who helped to establish and improve the township\u2019s cricket facilities, on the pitch at Chris Hani secondary school in Makhaza<\/span><\/p>\n Over the years, Kirsten has improved the facilities \u2013 with the artificial pitch laid in 2020 and a three-lane indoor cricket centre a year later \u2013 and expanded the programme to include tutors who help the children with their homework and frequent workshops on topics such as mental and reproductive health and financial wellness. Now, 18 coaches and more than 400 players aged six to 19 make use of the centre six or seven days a week throughout the year.<\/p>\n As Zothe, the girls\u2019 coach, says: \u201cMost of those kids aren\u2019t going to make a living from cricket, but they are all benefiting from cricket. This facility is like a dream \u2026 it is a home for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n Kirsten says: \u201cI was lucky in that cricket gave me everything, now\u2019s my chance to give something back.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Even if only a practice match, competition is fierce between the Catch Trust teams<\/span><\/p>\n One of the opportunities that cricket gave Kirsten was the chance to tour internationally and experience different countries and cultures. While elite schools in South Africa regularly take cricket teams on tour overseas, township cricketers are lucky if they ever leave their own neighbourhood.<\/p>\n In 2019, during the men\u2019s World Cup, Kirsten took a Catch Trust boys\u2019 team to the UK. \u201cIt was one of the highlights of my cricketing life,\u201d says Kirsten \u2013 a man who has scored 21 test centuries and coached India to the World Cup title.<\/p>\n Next June, to coincide with the Women\u2019s T20 World Cup, he will be taking a girls\u2019 team to the birthplace of cricket. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to go to England, to Lord\u2019s,\u201d says Yaso, who is hoping to be picked as a senior player or mentor. \u201cIt\u2019s a dream I have been waiting for \u2026 it means everything.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Coach Zothe delivers a pre-match pep talk to her players in the U19 senior girls\u2019 team, some of whom hope to join her on next year\u2019s trip to England <\/span><\/p>\n Zothe is equally excited. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a great cultural exchange. The girls will get to experience British culture and they will also get a chance to share their culture,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot wait \u2013 it\u2019s going to be the greatest experience for the kids. And for me as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Zothe is also emotional. \u201cAs a coach, it\u2019s a privilege to have someone like Gary to call on,\u201d she says. \u201cThe fact that Gary built the facilities here, in Khayelitsha, means the world to us. It means that he values a black child and the environment they come from.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s just after 3pm on a Friday and 22-year-old Sinelethu Yaso is in her happy place. Her spotless cricket whites pop against the synthetic green turf, while the upbeat rhythms of kwaito music waft on the breeze as she ambles in to bowl. Beyond the boundary, in the Makhaza area of Khayelitsha township, in South<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[8121,1620,166,1144,918,413,1591,1123,122,992,622,13264],"class_list":{"0":"post-21630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-african","9":"tag-brings","10":"tag-children","11":"tag-cricket","12":"tag-development","13":"tag-game","14":"tag-gave","15":"tag-global","16":"tag-south","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-star","19":"tag-township"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}