Canada Under-19s to face TUKS (University of Pretoria) on Monday

Update: Canada won the game by 7 wickets
Canada Under-19s are to play TUKS on Monday (6 January 2020) in a warm-up game that forms part of Canada’s preparations for the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup that begins on 17 January 2020. Although I twice in the past been at the cricket grounds of the University of Pretoria, I had not previously checked why the university’s cricket team was known as TUKS. The simple answer comes from the original name as the Transvaal University College (using the English equivalent of the Afrikaans name for the institution).
TUKS cricket club seem to have won the South African Varsity Cup a few months ago and in November 2019 won the T20 Red Bull College Championships in Dubai. Opposition in the Red Bull Championships came from the UAE, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom. TUKS South African Varsity Cup success included a semi-final win against the University of Stellenbosch and victory in the final against the University of Johannesburg.
TUKS seems to have won previous editions of the Red Bull Championship and some famous South African cricketers have played for the university cricket club, including AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, Albie Morkel and Morne Morkel who have played a number of games for South Africa. .
Canada’s mens team beat Afghanistan in a World Cup Qualifier on my last visit to the ground back in April 2009. A win that helped Canada into the Final of that World Cup Qualifier and helped secure a place in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup in India.
From a distance, it seems there is an interesting challenge for the Canadian juniors on Monday in Pretoria. My understanding is that some other warm-up games are scheduled against “local opposition” before Canada has warm-up internationals against West Indies U19s (13 January in Soweto) and Australia U19s (15 January in Johannesburg) before the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup has lift-off on 17 January.
Best wishes to the Canada Under-19s for this opening game of the tour. Eddie Norfolk

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