Cricketer off to premier league
A young man from Worcester will fly the Breede Valley flag high when he takes to the cricket pitch in the Cape Premier League next month.
Mark Andrianatos (25), who is no stranger to the game of cricket since his days at his alma mater, Worcester Gymnasium, will represent the Cape Vikings in the second instalment of the Cape Premier League. The tournament, which is set to span three weeks, commences in September with the final played on 10 October.
The Cape Premier League tournament serves as a foundation for players from club level right across to national level, as it hones and nurtures talent in the sport.
Andrianatos, who will make a second appearance for the Cape Vikings side, is elated to have made the final squad. Before receiving the news that he had been sold to the Vikings the young man hoped to have been drafted by his team.
“I was so happy when I saw that I got drafted again by the Cape Vikings. We have a really good team culture and environment at the Vikings,” says Andrianatos.
Since the tournament’s inception two years ago, the number of teams participating has grown from six to eight. Speaking on how teams are selected Andrianatos told Standard that each team had a budget that consisted of a fictional currency called CPL Dollars and each team had the task to select a 16-man squad for the tournament by competing in bidding wars with the other teams for players that are in the auction.
The team who bid the highest amount of money for a player got that player.
Andrianatos, who had been in the Cape Vikings side who won the tournament in 2019, hoped to remain in the winning team. “There are also a lot of experienced players in the team who I can learn from.”
Hard work, determination and a winning culture have proven to be integral themes in the local’s life, as he has high hopes ahead of this year’s tournament.
“The first goal will be to retain the trophy after 2019 and then on a personal level I would like to influence every game I play in a positive way and contribute to the team’s success.”
In addition to his list of accolades, Andrianatos made his debut for Western Province in the Cricket South Africa one day competition at the end of 2019.
At the end of the same year, he went to New Zealand where he played in the Brian Dunning Cup, where they walked away as champions at the end of the tournament.