Limpopo Cricket Team
Limpopo Cricket Team: competitions
Limpopo Cricket Team: First-Class Cricket Competitions
Logo Tournament Wins Years
Limpopo Cricket Team: Limited Overs Cricket Competitions
Logo Tournament Wins YearsLimpopo Cricket Team: Twenty20 Cricket Competitions
Logo Tournament Wins YearsLimpopo Cricket Team: professional club from South Africa
The Limpopo Cricket Team or the Limpopo Impalas is a South African cricket franchise that previously participated in all domestic first-class tournaments. The team is currently represented in the South Africa T20 Cup and the Junior Rural League. Home matches are played at the Modjadjiskloof Oval in Duiwelskloof, with a capacity of 11,000. The team represents the southern provinces of South Africa.
The club has almost fifteen years of history, although it was in-asset most of the time. The new Impalas sports structure has been in the league since 2006 when the Cricket South Africa (CSA) decided to add new representatives to the Provincial Three-Day Challenge domestic championship.
The team created by th CSA has become one of the leaders in the first-class, along with the KwaZulu-Natal Inland, the South Western Districts, the Mpumalanga and the Kei. However, like Limpopo, many of them did not live up to expectations and were subsequently reformed or disbanded.
Limpopo Cricket Team: Debut Season
The Limpopo Cricket Team played 8 first-class matches in their debut 2006/07 season, seven of which were in the Provincial One-Day Challenge home tournament. Unfortunately, this debut cannot be called successful for the Impalas: two wins and five losses are clear evidence of failure.
Despite this, some roster players tried in every possible way to raise their team from the bottom of the standings. This is how Andrew Galloway managed to prove himself in a difficult situation. In one of the first-class matches of the Free State tournament, South African bettor Limpopo Impalas scored 123 of 127 possible goals in the first innings. The player’s high dedication immediately paid off, allowing the club to celebrate the victory. Moreover, the match ended with the highest result for the team in all 8 meetings of the debut season – 402 points.
That being said, Andrew Galloway finished the season with 421 runs with an average of 42.10. Thus, his run rate was 108.22 runs per 100 goals. It is also interesting that five matches of the debut season for the Impalas were the best in Galloway’s career. Later, he managed to hit 91 goals in only one ODI series against North West.
Batsmen Pieter Haasbroek (497 runs) and Johannes Shokane (437 runs) were no less outstanding players in the line-up, each of whom regularly earned points for the team.
However, Tumi Masekela and Sammy Letsoalo were considered to be the backbone players of the Impalas with 22 wickets each. Both bowlers performed excellently in the first class, which allowed the last one (Letsoalo) to play for North West in the future.
Limpopo Cricket Team: History
Limpopo never managed to find his game in his debut 2006/07 season. The club’s performance was disastrous, so the Cricket South Africa took responsibility by stripping the franchise of its license. And the too weak play was observed not only from the Impalas: such teams as the Kei and the Mpumalanga also failed to justify their place in the strongest national South African league. Immediately after their debut, all three clubs were eliminated from first-class cricket.
The reanimation of the franchise took place in the 2010/11 season, but the club began to represent the lower league from that moment – the Cricket South Africa Rural League (junior level of intercollegiate competitions).
The Limpopo was included in the South Africa T20 Cup tournament in the 2018/19 season. Almost fifty teams had to go through the group stage, which the Impalas did not cope with, finishing only fourth in group D. This did not allow the club to go further in the tournament bracket.
Limpopo Cricket Team: line-up
Ahead of the 2021-22 season, the Cricket South Africa has confirmed the following Limpopo Cricket Team line-up:
| No. | Name | Birth date | Batting Style | Bowling Style | Notes |
| Batsmen | |||||
| 5 | Ludwig Kaestner | June 19, 2000 (21) | Right hand bat | Right arm medium | |
| Morne Venter | January 10, 1998 (23) | Right hand bat | Right arm fast | ||
| Amir Bux | July 16, 1995 (26) | Right hand bat | Right arm medium | ||
| All-rounder | |||||
| Thamsanqa Rapelego | December 25, 1992 (28) | Right hand bat | Right arm medium fast | ||
| 16 | Sithembile Langa | October 09, 1995 (25) | Right hand bat | Right arm fast | |
| Wicket-keepers | |||||
| Bruce Shiburi | July 29, 1995
(25) |
Right hand bat | |||
| Spin Bowlers | |||||
| Thomas Hobson | May 18, 1994
(27) |
Right hand bat | Right arm medium | Capitan | |
| 7 | Don Radebe | February 09, 1997 (24) | Right hand bat | Right arm medium fast | |
| Nyiko Shikwambana | December 05, 1997 (23) | Right hand bat | Right arm medium | ||
* international players are in bold.
