Remember the name…..the 18-year old Enathi Kitshini from Thembalethu High School – and a product of the Thembalethu hub cricket program. He was again the hero at the recently held SWD Cricket Awards function that was held at the Wilderness Hotel in George.
Kitshini, who follows in the footsteps of Waldo Lategan (2007), Brendon Louw (2008) and Marcello Piedt (2011), in December last year became the fourth SWD player to be selected for the prestigious SA Schools cricket team. Kitshini, who was the captain of the Garden Route Badgers U/19 team at the Cricket South Africa Khaya Majola national tournament that was hosted in Cape Town in December 2024 – was justifiably included in the SA Schools team after he and his team had a successful stint at this tournament. In 2023 he made the SA Colts team after the same tournament took place at Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape.
On top of that Kitshini in January this year became only the second player from SWD to be selected for the SA U/19 team. Jean du Plessis made the SA u/19 team in 2018 when du Plessis represented his country in the ICC U/19 World Cup in New Zealand.
Kitshini also received a Special Merit Award for his consecutive selection in the Southern Superstars team that represented the Western Cape in the CSA Cubs tournament that took place in Stellenbosch during January this year and he also captained the SA Hubs XI in the Schools SA 20 tournament in 2025.
For the second consecutive year he also received the SWD Schools player of the season award.
In the 2024/25 season Kitshini also made his first-class debut for the Garden Route Badgers professional men’s team in the Cricket South Africa Division 2 Four Day competition.
Caption
Enathi Kitshini together with his Garden Route Badgers schools coaches, Warren Bell (assistant coach – left) and Wynand de Ridder (head coach – right)
