Palmcricket News

March 2005 - Palmcricket takes off in Gauteng, South Africa.

The start of 2005 saw a sharp rise in the number of Gauteng Schools using Palmcricket. As a result, South African sales of Palmcricket, lagging in a distant fourth position from 2002 to 2004, suddenly moved into second spot behind the UK. This was partly due to Multi-Media's direct marketing endeavours to schools in Johannesburg and Pretoria during November. Another factor was the approval (in early January) of budgets for the new financial school year. Interest was keen, and we were hard pressed to meet the demand for Palm Zire and Palm Zire 21 units.

The powerful influence of word of mouth can never be under-estimated either. Billy Brown, a long-time teacher and umpire at Affies in Pretoria, bought a Palm Zire on the spur of the moment when Dev visited the school in November 2004. Billy used Palmcricket to score at the national Coca Cola and PG Bison cricket tournaments in December, generating quite high levels of interest when doing so. Elsewhere, a few other schools also tried out one of these "new fangled gadgets" on a trial basis, and after scoring a match or two, they decided to buy as well. King Edward VII, Jeppe and Parktown Boys High all moved across to Palmcricket in this manner.

The first major order in January came from St David's Marist College in Sandton, where the High and Prep sections bought 5 units each. Crawford Prep in Sandton followed with 2 units, St Stithians in Randburg with 6 (3 for the high school and 3 for the Prep), and St John's College in Houghton with 4 units. Many other individual teachers and parents contributed to the flurry of sales with direct purchases of single units. Others managed to scrounge one or two old Palm III and V units from friends and family and bought Palmcricket directly via the internet.

An interesting "sign of the times" emerged at the U15 cricket festival at St Albans in Pretoria in February. When Dev delivered St John's 4 Palms to Richard Venter, 3 festival matches were in progress. No less then 3 of the 6 umpires were all scoring directly on the field with Palmcricket.

Other schools that currently use Palmcricket in the Gauteng area include St Peters in Sandton, Kempton Park High, Zwartkops and Wonderboom in Pretoria, Krugersdorp and many others.

From all of us here at Multi-Media Publications, a heart-felt thank you to all the cricket co-ordinators, coaches, parents and players in Gauteng. You all took the plunge to venture into unknown territory by buying Palmcricket. We appreciate your support. It ensures Palmcricket's survival and long-term continuity for the benefit of the broader cricketing community.