Diamond Oval to host Proteas vs England ODI final

THE KIMBERLEY Diamond Oval will host the final of the Proteas versus England XI One Day International final on February 1, Northern Cape Cricket CEO Thapelo January said in an interview this week.

Northern Cape Cricket (NCC) have signed up to host three Cricket South Africa (CSA) sanctioned games at the Diamond Oval during the December festive period, January told the DFA.

The pick of the cherry of the planned ODIs is the final of the 2023 ODI series between the Proteas and England to be played in Kimberley in early February.

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The national cricket governing body, CSA, has generously awarded the Diamond Oval the hosting rights to the last of the three-game series against England.

On October 1, CSA announced the ODI schedule. The first two games will be played in Bloemfontein on January 27 and 29 and the final match in Kimberley three days later.

“It’s a massive game ... England and the Proteas in Kimberley,” January exclaimed. “We will be hosting the current T20 world champs and the 50-over world champions, which is England!”

With NC Cricket hosting the last game of the series, the trophy handover ceremony will be done at the Diamond Oval.

“To top it all off, it's a day-night game. We have not hosted a day-night game in 20 years,” a visibly thrilled January said.

“To host a country of the magnitude of England says something else. Like I said, we are going into our One-Day season and our mission is to make cricket fasionable.

“We're planning to make quite an event of the game that we will be hosting. We plan to, amongst others, take tickets to schools in the province and districts.

“You know, kids get their parents into the stadium.

“We will go big on this in terms of the marketing strategy we plan to engage. We will use radio stations and other media as well as our own social media platforms. We will put up tickets to win for the public via these channels.”

Remarking on the tentative calendar dates pencilled in with the nod of CSA, January said: “Our last game will be on December 16 and we plan to make a party of it. By doing that we will also be thanking the people of the Northern Cape for their support.”

When asked by the DFA, “Won’t you (NC Cricket) be overwhelmed? England is quite a big deal.”

January was forthright in his answer. “It's going to be a lot of hard work,” he said.

Northern Cape Cricket will release details of the rest of the tournament highlights as and when the matches are given the green light by CSA, January said.