Ken Borland

The rumours that junior world cup winning captain Aiden Markram could be lost to South African cricket are wide of the mark with the 21-year-old confirming on Tuesday that he has signed a contract with the Titans, who will, however, be losing four of their talented youngsters ahead of next season.

Markram will be spending the off-season playing for Walkden in the Bolton League, but the promising top-order batsman will be back in time for what is already shaping up as a massive summer for him. Especially since Theunis de Bruyn and Graeme van Buuren, two of his team-mates in the all-conquering Tuks side, are moving on to fresh pastures. Corbin Bosch, the opening bowler for Markram’s triumphant SA U19 team, has already relocated to Australia, having failed to break into the Titans team this season.

The Titans have also lost out on the services of wicketkeeper/batsman Mangaliso Mosehle, who is moving to the Highveld Lions next season.

Van Buuren has earned a two-year contract with Gloucestershire and, because his wife Hannah, the former Tuks conditioning coach, was born in London and has a British passport, he will try to qualify for England.

De Bruyn, one of the brightest batting talents in the country, will be moving to the Knights for the 2016/17 season, opening the way for Markram to play more regular franchise cricket, having made just two Momentum One-Day Cup appearances this season.

“I’m looking forward to spending the off-season in different conditions and growing my game, but I’m happy with where I am in my career. Any opportunity I get for the Titans I’m just going to try and take, but at the moment I’m really focusing on my preparation. At school, there might be four or five good players in the opposition, but in senior cricket there’s a lot more good players, so it takes time to work out how to play at that level. But the more cricket you play, the faster you learn,” Markram told The Citizen on Tuesday.

Van Buuren has been a highly-valued performer for the Titans, averaging 45 in the Momentum One-Day Cup and 30 in the RamSlam T20 Challenge, as well as bowling economical left-arm spin, but with doors opening up for him in county cricket, it was only natural that he would seize the opportunity.

“I’m not going with any regrets, I’m not at all complaining about anything, I owe the Titans for everything I’ve achieved, having played for them since Northerns U7s 18 years ago. So I’m very thankful to them, but this is a great opportunity in terms of my career as a professional cricketer and not a lot of players have this chance.

“I’m excited for something new, an unbelievable opportunity and a new chapter. Obviously I want to play international cricket, that’s the main reason for playing because you always want to push yourself to be the best. I’ll qualify for England when I’m 29 and until then I’ll just let things take their course,” Van Buuren told The Citizen.

The brilliant seam bowling of Corbin Bosch proved too much for the batsmen of Leeds Bradford MCCU, as Assupol Tuks brushed aside the hosts by seven wickets with 22 balls to spare on the second day of the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals in London on Tuesday.

Bosch struck with the new ball in the second and fourth overs to immediately undermine the Leeds Bradford innings after they had won the toss and elected to bat first, and he claimed further wickets in the 18th and 20^th overs as the English students battled to 109 for eight in their 20 overs.

The final result was then obvious as soon as Aiden Markram made a brisk start at the top of the Tuks batting line-up, the SA U19 captain stroking a run-a-ball 42 as the University of Pretoria sealed victory in the 17^th over.

Tuks have now ensured their place in Saturday’s semi-finals of the T20 Varsity World Cup, regardless of what happens in their final round-robin fixture against the Jamaica Inter-Collegiate Sports Association on Wednesday.

It was a second successive convincing victory for the Pretoria students after the Theunis de Bruyn-inspired thrashing of Bangladesh’s University of the Liberal Arts on the first day.

The hero yesterday was Bosch, with four for 27 in his four overs. One of the stars of the SA U19 team that won the ICC Junior World Cup earlier this year, Bosch has not yet played first-class cricket, but he is almost certain to appear for Northerns in the summer.

The son of former Test fast bowler Tertius is also wonderfully skilful at the death and he was superbly supported by his opening partner, Vincent Moore, who conceded just 12 runs in his four overs.

Off-spinner Ruben Claassen was the other class act for Tuks, taking two for 13 in four overs.

The runs have kept flowing for Markram since the Junior World Cup triumph where he was the man of the tournament, and he anchored the straightforward Tuks chase with Gerry Pike and De Bruyn both adding 20s.

Jamaica Inter-Collegiate Sports Association will qualify for the semi-finals alongside Tuks if they win on Wednesday, but if the South Africans make it a clean sweep of three from three in Group 2 then they will be joined by whoever has the better run-rate between the West Indians and the winner of the other clash between the Bangladeshis and English.

– http://thesportseagle.co.za/cricket/corbin-bosch-much-leeds-bradford/