Cricket South Africa and education group AdvTech have agreed a three-year partnership designed to broaden opportunities for young players and reinforce the pathway from school cricket to the elite game.
Education and cricket linked across national competitions
Under the arrangement AdvTech will become the official sponsor of CSA’s youth festivals and the inbound Test series for the Proteas Women, while also taking up an associate sponsorship role for Proteas Men’s Test cricket. The partnership covers the National U13 Boys Week, U16 Boys and Girls Weeks, U19 Girls Week and the Khaya Majola Cricket Week, bringing an education provider into the centre of the country’s key development events.
CSA said the agreement is intended to provide extra support to youth structures and strengthen the pipeline for future players and coaches. The education group, which operates in primary, secondary and tertiary education as well as in training and placement, plans to extend specialised girls’ programmes at selected schools to bolster the route from school cricket into the senior women’s game.
“For CSA, it is important that our work has meaningful social impact, and partnering with AdvTech strengthens the connection between cricket, education and the development of young people throughout our pathway,” said CSA chief executive officer Pholetsi Moseki.
AdvTech’s chief executive Geoff Whyte described the deal as an investment in “South Africa’s most inclusive sporting code” and said the partnership spans the sport from grassroots to elite level.
Scale of the national development platform
CSA highlighted the reach of its youth weeks: in 2025 the U16 and U19 weeks brought together about 850 players from all nine provinces and delivered more than 350 matches across the competitions. Those figures underline the national footprint of the weeks and why a partner in education could be influential in shaping off-field development.
| Event | Included in partnership |
|---|---|
| National U13 Boys Week | Yes |
| U16 Boys and Girls Weeks | Yes |
| U19 Girls Week | Yes |
| Khaya Majola Cricket Week | Yes |
Those youth weeks are widely regarded as key talent-spotting arenas for provincial coaches and national scouts. By attaching an education partner to these platforms, CSA says it hopes to enhance both sporting and non-sporting outcomes for participants.
- Pathway reinforcement: Sponsorship of youth weeks aims to smooth transitions from school to provincial and national teams.
- Girls’ cricket focus: New specialised programmes at selected schools seek to strengthen the female route to elite cricket.
- Coaching and off-field development: The partnership intends to contribute to coach development and broader life-skills support for players.
The deal is also notable for its cross-sector nature. AdvTech’s presence in multiple levels of the education system offers opportunities for integrated programming — from coaching and bursaries to training and potential placement schemes for young people leaving school.
For CSA, maintaining and expanding the talent pipeline remains an urgent task as both the men’s and women’s games compete internationally for results and depth. For AdvTech, the partnership is a public-facing investment in community sport and brand association with national teams and marquee youth events.
While the immediate benefits will be seen at the youth weeks and in the Proteas Women’s inbound Test series, the longer-term measure of success will be whether more players — particularly girls — progress from school competitions into provincial setups and, ultimately, the national sides.
Given the scale of participation in CSA’s youth weeks, the three-year partnership offers a platform to measure outcomes across coaching, player development and education — and could become a template for how schools and sport bodies collaborate to build stronger, more inclusive pathways in South African sport.
