Mahatlane appointed Cricket Cranes coach

A new era dawns. Welcome aboard Lawrence Mahatlane!

The Cricket Cranes can finally settle upon a new direction, a new path. Cricket body UCA's hope is to "achieve great things" under the 44 year-old South African, who takes the reins of the  senior national cricket side, under the interim stewardship of Davis Turinawe since the departure of Steve Tikolo in January. 

"We are very excited to have a coach of such calibre in the setup," explained UCA CEO Martin Ondeko said. "He finds the team on an upward spiral and we believe he will continue with the momentum already gathered. He will also be a very key figure in setting up the structures for the national teams. We wish him the best of luck in his new position"

Mahatlane boasts an impressive resume working with young players, his highlight being the last six years he spent as coach of the U-19 South African team. He also held the head coaching position for the Central Gauteng Lions from 1996-2000, among a host of other titles.

In a related development, the ground will be broken today on a project that will upgrade Jinja cricket oval, transforming the historical ground from from an AstroTurf to a grass wicket. The project is a partnership between UCA and Jinja and under the MOU, the cricket authority will sponsor not just the grass wicket but fence off the ground and construct dressing rooms and eating area for facility. 

"It's important for players to grow up playing on a grass wicket because then they really learn the necessary skills to play at a high level because most cricket is played on grass wickets," explained Turinawe.