Saturday, December 22, 2007
Final posting.
If anyone wants to keep this blog I suggest copying it now as it has been posted on a free site with only 30 days free!!!!!!!!
Saturday 22nd.
The final day is hot and steamy..about 33 degrees.
We started the day with a trip up the cableway to the top of Table Mountain. After an hour there we have mopved to the Waterfront for shopping and lunch.
We will meet at the coach at 3.30 (1.30 GMT ) to return to our base to pack and change before transferring to the airport. The flight is scheduled to depart at 8.40 pm ( 6.40 GMT.)
We will sadly bid our farewells to South Africa after an exceptional tip.
We started the day with a trip up the cableway to the top of Table Mountain. After an hour there we have mopved to the Waterfront for shopping and lunch.
We will meet at the coach at 3.30 (1.30 GMT ) to return to our base to pack and change before transferring to the airport. The flight is scheduled to depart at 8.40 pm ( 6.40 GMT.)
We will sadly bid our farewells to South Africa after an exceptional tip.
Friday 21st December v Avendale CC.
Avendale club is the spot where Bob Woolmer spent a lot of time in his early days in SA developing cricket in disadvantaged areas. We played there before in 2001 and they were delighted to welcome us back and hosted us in a most generous manner.
Bancroft's batted first and posted 291 - 9 off 50 overs, not quite a school record we think ( will have to check on return to School ). Ari 37 and Anand 44 put on 92 quickly for the first wicket and the Rishabh 61 and Faiz 67 punished the bowling mercilessly. Simon Macloed chipped in with a quick fire 20 at the end.
Once agaun the bowling was most effective and vendale manged only 140 in reply, Faiz taking 4 - 12 and Gareth 3 - 43.
After the game we said goodbye to Dr and Mrs Khan who had watched our 3 games in Cape Town, they will be back home by now. We later said Goodby to Mr Jaob who has been with us all the way from Winghoek and who has proved invaluable as the team Doctor!! We will say goodbye to Professor and Mrs Kopelman at the CT arirport as they fly home at the same time but with a duifferent carrier.
7 wins from 9 games is an outstanding return from the tour and certainly by far the best record of the 5 tours we have undertaken to South Africa. The team played very effectivley as a unit and nop one failed to make a contribution on and off the field. The management's admiration to the team for their outstanding efforts was conveyed to theteam at a team meeting in the evening. At the meting a few awards were made. After ione or two " amusing " awards the following were given.
Best tourist Simon Macleod
Batsman of the tour Rishabh Shah
Bowler of the tour Abhi Bothra.
And then JGB presented some school awards.
Half colours for cricket were awarded to Abhi Bothra and Gareth James.
School colours were awarded to Simon Macleod. Anand Patel and Rishabh Shah.
Bancroft's batted first and posted 291 - 9 off 50 overs, not quite a school record we think ( will have to check on return to School ). Ari 37 and Anand 44 put on 92 quickly for the first wicket and the Rishabh 61 and Faiz 67 punished the bowling mercilessly. Simon Macloed chipped in with a quick fire 20 at the end.
Once agaun the bowling was most effective and vendale manged only 140 in reply, Faiz taking 4 - 12 and Gareth 3 - 43.
After the game we said goodbye to Dr and Mrs Khan who had watched our 3 games in Cape Town, they will be back home by now. We later said Goodby to Mr Jaob who has been with us all the way from Winghoek and who has proved invaluable as the team Doctor!! We will say goodbye to Professor and Mrs Kopelman at the CT arirport as they fly home at the same time but with a duifferent carrier.
7 wins from 9 games is an outstanding return from the tour and certainly by far the best record of the 5 tours we have undertaken to South Africa. The team played very effectivley as a unit and nop one failed to make a contribution on and off the field. The management's admiration to the team for their outstanding efforts was conveyed to theteam at a team meeting in the evening. At the meting a few awards were made. After ione or two " amusing " awards the following were given.
Best tourist Simon Macleod
Batsman of the tour Rishabh Shah
Bowler of the tour Abhi Bothra.
And then JGB presented some school awards.
Half colours for cricket were awarded to Abhi Bothra and Gareth James.
School colours were awarded to Simon Macleod. Anand Patel and Rishabh Shah.
Thursday 20th v St Augustine's CC
St. Augustine's, a club we played 3 years ago, is the home of Basil D'Olivera for those of you aged enough to remember hime. They were delighted we returned and hosted us in a very generous way.
Bancroft's batted, Anand 34 and Ari 27 put on 73 for the first wicket in a fairly sedate manner which put a bit of pressure on the rest of the batsman causing one or two to gert out cheaply altho' Faiz's shot staright to long on was entirely his own fault! Nigel scored 44 and Tom 27 to help us to 198 all out. In reply St Augustine's lost wickets regulaerly and after the top order went there was little effective resistance and they were bowled out for 66, Faiz taking 4 - 9 off 6 overs and Abhi 4 - 16 off 10, both first class spells.
Bancroft's batted, Anand 34 and Ari 27 put on 73 for the first wicket in a fairly sedate manner which put a bit of pressure on the rest of the batsman causing one or two to gert out cheaply altho' Faiz's shot staright to long on was entirely his own fault! Nigel scored 44 and Tom 27 to help us to 198 all out. In reply St Augustine's lost wickets regulaerly and after the top order went there was little effective resistance and they were bowled out for 66, Faiz taking 4 - 9 off 6 overs and Abhi 4 - 16 off 10, both first class spells.
Wednesday 19th December. v Western Province CC
Have had no internet access since Tuesday so a brief resume of the final stages of the tour for anyone who might read it.
WPCC has one of the most beautiful club grounds in the country. Very near to Newlands it has an even better outlook on the mountain as there is no brewery or railway line to break the view. The facilities are second to none with cricket hockey football a gym and many other facilities. The members are also life members of Wetern Priovinnce at Newlands and have right of access to matches at Newlands like MCC members at Lord's altho unlike MCC members who actually own Lord's and therefore have free access every day of the year they have to pay the gate fee!!
Bancroft's batted first and did so very effectively - Visakan Balakumar posted an excellent 76 with Rahul Patel scoring 27 and Nigel Jacob 26 in support. 256 all out in 48 overs on one of the hottest days of the trip including Namibia was a good effort. We bowled WPCC out for 139, Akash 2-19, Abhi 4 -16 ( another excvellent spell ) Nigel 2 - 7 and Visakan 2 - 17. An excellnt 5th victory
WPCC has one of the most beautiful club grounds in the country. Very near to Newlands it has an even better outlook on the mountain as there is no brewery or railway line to break the view. The facilities are second to none with cricket hockey football a gym and many other facilities. The members are also life members of Wetern Priovinnce at Newlands and have right of access to matches at Newlands like MCC members at Lord's altho unlike MCC members who actually own Lord's and therefore have free access every day of the year they have to pay the gate fee!!
Bancroft's batted first and did so very effectively - Visakan Balakumar posted an excellent 76 with Rahul Patel scoring 27 and Nigel Jacob 26 in support. 256 all out in 48 overs on one of the hottest days of the trip including Namibia was a good effort. We bowled WPCC out for 139, Akash 2-19, Abhi 4 -16 ( another excvellent spell ) Nigel 2 - 7 and Visakan 2 - 17. An excellnt 5th victory
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Tuesday 18th December.
This morning we enjoyed the pre booked trip to Robben Island. Altho' the sea was a little rough all survived the journey and certainly were moved by the guided tour by a former political prisoner. We are now in the Waterfront having lunch before deciding what to do with the rest of the day. Unfortunately our base has no internet facilities at all so your correspondent is now reliant on Internet cafes. Given that we have 3 matches in the next 3 days further blogs might prove difficult until Saturday.
Monday 17th December.
An early phone call delivered news that was not unexpected. The match had been cancelled because of the rain the day before! So we set off early for Cape Town and arrived mid morning at our school and final base. After an hour's practice and lunch we set off for the large shopping mall at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town. After an afternoon spent there we returned top the school and ate locally. Most people's sleep was interrupted by a constant howling gale - the Cape Town Doctor was blowing well.
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