Walter Masimula, star of the future!

Walter Masimula is fast becoming a household name. He is the first young talented cricketer to emerge from Alexandra. Walter's cricket career began in 198 during the height of the political turmoil. This however, did not deter the young fast bowler. Walter was considered as one of the jewels of the Devlopment programme and was dubbed "Black Express".

In 1987, Walter played in the prestigious Treadwell under 13 cricket week and was selected to play for Transvaal at the National Cricket Week. His best bowling statistics at the week was 7 wickets for 17 runs in 10 overs. Walter represented transvaal at the under 15 as well as under 18 cricket weeks. In 1993 he was selected to tour Eng;and with the South African under 17 side.

In 1995, Walter represented his province at the National Coca-Cola cricket week, where his best bowling figures were 5 wickets for 28 runs in 10 overs. He was selected along with Makhaya Ntini to represent SA schools. The SA schools team toured England. Walter and Makhaya were the top wicket takers on tour. "This was one of the highlights of my life. It taught me tough lessons and it pointed out to me that there was still lots of hard work to be done," recalls Walter.

Walter attended the Australian Cricket Academy in Octoober 1992. The Academy was run by the former australian testest cricketer, Rodney marsh. Walter spent nearly a month at the Academy which trained young promising cricketers. During this time he improved his fast bowling talent.

Last year Walter played league cricket in Ireland during the off season. Unfortunately he struggled to come to terms with the conditions in Ireland. He did, however, have match figures of 8 wickets for 34 runs in 10 overs in one of his matches played that season.

In 1997, Walter was selected to play for Gauteng B. In 1998, he was a regular member of Gauteng B and played in every atch. Walter's big breal came in 1999. He was selected to play against Border in a Standard Bank match. His match figures were 1 wicket for 21 runs in 8 overs. This was an historic moment for Gauteng cricket since he was the first black cricketer to represent Gauteng. He also played in two Super Sport matches against Boland and Eastern Province. His match figures were 1 wicket for 34 runs in 17 overs and 2 wickets for 39 runs in 12 overs, resectively.

Walter has been offered a contrct with the Gauteng Senior Provincial side for the 1999/2000 season. Well done and good luck !!!!

Sheldon Mayet, the administrtor of Youth Cricket said, "Walter is a perfect example of how hard work and detemination often achieve results."