Limpopo Impalas select experienced outfit for Khaya Majola Week
An experienced Limpopo Impala side has been named to take the field during the 2025 Khaya Majola Week, which starts on 15 December in Bloemfontein.
The squad of 13 players features five players who represented the side in 2024 in Cape Town.
Noteworthy returnees include Hoërskool Piet Potgieter‘s star batsman, Muhammed Muaaz, and left-arm off-spinner Timothy Baker from Merensky Landbou Akademie.
Baker was one of the Limpopo Super League’s leading wicket-takers for a second year running, boasting 15 wickets in six matches, while Muaaz was sixth on the leading run-scoring charts with 169 runs at an average of 42.3. Baker and Muaaz also faced each other in the final, which the Plasies won convincingly.
Mahlodi Sekuba of Mohodi Hub, located just outside Polokwane, also returns. This year, however, Sekuba is the only representative from the Hub. The same applies to Ntshuxeko Sebata from Giyani Hub. Bradley Sekoto is joined by Phalaborwa Hub team member Benji Mathebula.
Merensky captain, Luka Heinlein, and Rayaan Malji, Piet Potgieter’s second representative, both graduated from last year’s u17 side as Limpopo’s two dangerous all-rounders. Their stats speak for themselves.
Malji, a key member of Piet Potgieter on the road to the Super League Final, scored 173 runs at an average of 43.3, the fourth most throughout the league, while also snaffling 14 wickets. Heinlein snapped up 19 wickets at an astonishing economy rate of 2.7 to the over, making him the leading wicket-taker, just ahead of Baker, while he scored 134 runs in five innings.
Jannes van Zyl follows in the footsteps of Lucas van der Merwe, who was Hoërskool Nylstroom‘s only representative last year. Van Zyl also graduated from the u17 side, while he also represented the province at the CSA u16 National Week a year before.
Another valuable all-rounder, Stephan Swanepoel, is Hoërskool Pietersburg‘s sole representative. Swanepoel’s main role will likely be with the willow, although his off-spin may come in handy, especially in the Bloemfontein conditions.
Hoërskool Ben Vorster boasts the most representatives, with three players from the Black Caps getting the nod. Rivonigo Chauke‘s inclusion comes as no surprise. The Ben Vorster fast bowler has already made significant strides representing the CSA Hub Invitational XI at both the Oppenheimer Michaelmas Week and the Wildeklawer T20 in Pretoria earlier this year. He was also invited to the Titans Talent Identification Camp, or “TAP Camp”.
Chauke is accompanied by his captain, Njabulo Maseko, who, like numerous others in the side, graduated from the u17 side, and Ruben Pohl. Pohl’s inclusion means that he completes the double, having also featured at the Craven Week in Middelburg in July, while still only in Grade 11.
The squad
Jannes van Zyl (Nylstroom), Njabulo Maseko (Ben Vorster), Rayaan Malji (Piet Potgieter), Stephan Swanepoel (Hoërskool Pietersburg), Mahlodi Sekuba (Mohodi Hub), Muhammed Muaaz (Piet Potgieter), Benji Mathebula (Phalaborwa Hub), Luka Heinlein (Merensky), Timothy Baker (Merensky), Bradley Rickotso (Phalaborwa Hub), Ntshuxeko Sebata (Giyani Hub), Rivoningo Chauke (Ben Vorster), Ruben Pohl (Ben Vorster).
