It's 25 years and still not out for the company began sponsoring mini cricket sponsorship, making it the longest developmental sports sponsorship in Southern Africa.
To celebrate their achievement, the company and Cricket SA (CSA) notched up a sporting first for South Africa when they set a new Guinness World Record for the most children playing cricket at one time.
On Thursday 15 May 2008 at exactly 14:00, more than 6 000 children, between the ages of six and twelve, took to the pitches at eight venues across the country in; Johannesburg (Liberty Life Wanderers), Cape Town (Sahara Park Newlands), Paarl (Boland Park), Benoni (Willowmoore Park), Kimberley (De Beers Diamond Oval), KwaZulu-Natal (Sahara Stadium Kingsmead), Port Elizabeth (Sahara Oval St Georges) and Pretoria (Supersport Park) as part of a mega Bakers Mini Cricket festival as never seen before.
Gerald Majola, Cricket South Africa's CEO, said, “15 May 2008 marked one of the most important days in Cricket South Africa's calendar. This is the day on which we celebrate the joy and goodwill that Bakers Mini Cricket has brought to three generations of young South Africans throughout the country. All this is due to the loyal support of the company for a quarter of a century.”
According to CSA, over two million children have passed through the Bakers Mini Cricket program to date, which has produced some of South Africa's greatest cricketing heroes including; Mark Boucher, Makhaya Ntini, Mfuneko Ngam and Shaun Pollock to name a few.
The program is open to all children from urban to rural, boys and girls of all races and cultures and from all walks of life, making provision for special needs schools. The brand's free biscuits handed out after matches have been a motivating incentive to attract children to the game.
Today, over 100 000 children amongst 5 000 schools nationally take part in the program, which was the first organised soft ball cricket game in the world.
“Bakers Mini Cricket has become the heartbeat of South African cricket,” says Heather Partner, Bakers Category Director.
