Date-stamped : 21 Dec96 - 18:14 10 December 1996 Transvaal aim to stay on track as festive season swings Vida Tong It may be the festive season but Transvaal will have to stay focused as they host Eastern Province in a four-day Supersport Series match from Friday. The selectors have stuck to the winning combination which beat Boland by an innings with a day to spare in their last home match. Transvaal beat Griquas in their first match, and are one of the frontrunners in the competition. Con- vener of selectors David van der Knaap said the team must main- tain the high level of performance as their programme ahead will only get tougher. They still have to play defending champions Western Province, Natal and Free State. "The young guys have been playing very well, and will have to keep going that way because Eastern Province are a much stronger team," he said. Richard Snell, Rowan Lyle, Zander de Bruyn and Stefan Jacobs will have a chance to play themselves into form with their inclusion in the Transvaal B team to play Easterns in Benoni, also from Friday. James Henderson, who performed specially during the Technikons` Week in Bloemfontein last week, will open the innings for Transvaal B. Henderson, who plays for newly-promoted Vaal Techni- kon, earned himself a place in the SA Technikons` B side. Vaal Tech won the A section in their debut at the Technikon week, and had four players included in SA Technikons side to play SA Universities in a one-day match on Saturday. Allrounder Nestus Bosman captained the Technikon A side and took 5/32 against SA Universities, which only managed 191 from their 45 overs, before rain forced the game to be abandoned with SA Technikon on 12 without loss. Teammate Morne van Zyl took 3/30 and was named the Player of the Week, while Henry van Heerden and wicket- keeper Kobus Vorster were also included. Bosman has been invited to at- tend the Northern Transvaal Academy, but Vaal Technikon Cricket Club president Kotie Grove expressed concern that he could be lost to Transvaal cricket. "We`ve got a number of talented players here, but if we don`t look after them we`ll lose them to other provinces," he said. Vaal Tech also had talented offspinner Morgan Mfobu, who plays for Transvaal Colts, included in the na- tional Technikon B side with Henderson. Rand Afrikaans University completed a unique double for Transvaal cricket by winning the Universities Week in Bloemfontein. TEAMS Transvaal: A Bacher, M Benfield, N McKenzie, K Rutherford (capt), D Laing, N Pothas, R Veenstra, A Hall, C Eksteen, T Web- ster, W Kidwell.12th man: M Weinstein. Transvaal B: J Henderson , H Manack, A Pollock, Z de Bruyn, G Toyana, D Gain (capt), R Snell, G Brophy, A Griffiths, J Engelke, R Lyle, S Jacobs, D Terbrugge. 12th man: G Flusk. Source :: The Star Contributed by Ros.Brodie (tcb@iafrica.com)