Written by Tom Simmons (U15 Tourist 2017)
After only one medical emergency on the flight from Heathrow to Johannesburg, thankfully not one of our team, we caught a 39 seater airplane to Skukuza airport in Kruger National Park. Despite warnings from previous tourists all 14 of us were blown away by the heat and humidity on arrival. I certainly struggled to comprehend how I was going to function in the heat; let alone try and run. Baggage reclaim has to be the most personal service ever, when the sole baggage handler passed the bags to us by hand through a small door.
We boarded the safari bus and continued our journey to our final destination, the beautiful Kruger Gate Hotel. On our short journey we caught our first glimpse of South African Wildlife.
All settled and “unpacked” we went to Skukuza Cricket Club for our first of many delicious meals cooked by Isabel and Petra. We were certainly well fed for our first game the next day.
Our first game of the tour saw us face an academy side from the Nelspruit area. We were to take them on in a 35 over “warm up game”. The South Africans won the toss and decided to see how our batsmen would cope in the heat first up. A strong opening partnership between Horler and Kopparambil came to an end when they were both retired with the score on 61. Medlock began to accelerate the scoring with 2 sixes and some characteristic quick running saw him get to 38 before he too was retired. This platform allowed the middle order to play expansively and they scored on the whole at a run a ball or just over. Morison came to the crease in the 30th over and scored a very respectable 44 not out from 16 balls. Our innings finished on 207-3, meaning our opposition needed to score at a touch under 6 an over to win.
Simmons and Harford bowled the first overs of Devon’s tour. Simmons removed both the openers caught by the keeper Hannam. Hancock replaced Simmons at the clubhouse end and took a further 4 wickets getting a good amount of turn and bounce on the Skukuza wicket. Pugsley took 2 wickets and Nelspruit were bowled out for 108 after some tail wagging from their lower order. Hancock finished with figures of 7-1-23-4 and Simmons 5-4-3-2. A good marker was set as we looked forward to our next game, The Battle of Kruger.
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On our first free day we had middle practice with our coaches: Tim Ward, Dave Tall and Chris Read at Skukuza, acclimatising us further to the heat and humidity.
Our second game of the tour was a 2 day game against Nelspruit School U15’s. Devon won the toss and elected to bat first. We posted a score of 167 all out with White scoring 31 at number 3 and Hannam 36 not out. As a team we were disappointed with our total as we felt we had underperformed.
Tidy opening spells from Simmons and Medlock saw Medlock pick up 3 wickets from his first spell. Hancock then came on again and took 4 wickets for the second game in succession. Medlock finished with figures of 9-4-15-4 and Hancock 8.3-4-16-4. Nelspruit were all out for 55 making our first innings total look far more respectable.
With a lead of 112 the opening partnership of Horler and Read set about building a big lead. Read batted with control and aggression which saw him to 60 not out when we declared on 105-3. This left Nelspruit 218 to win The Battle Of Kruger.
Mathee Joubert offered a good fight with his run a ball 42 before an unbelievable slip catch from Kopparambil saw the end of his innings. Hancock took another 4fer. Medlock and Read took 2 wickets a piece, and there was 1 each for Simmons and Harford. Nelspruit finished on 121 all out giving Devon the win by 96 runs.
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An early morning game drive on our first rest day proved unsuccessful in the hunt for lions. The 5AM start proved too early for many of the golfers planning a round after breakfast. Only 4 made it to the first tee but they were rewarded with glimpses of crocodiles, warthogs and hippos around the course. After an entertaining round the winner and proud owner of a Skukuza Golf Club hat was Sam Read. We celebrated our last night in Kruger with all of our hosts at the hotel. The buffet was taken full advantage of by all and was a fitting finale to a wonderful time in Kruger.
On arrival in Cape Town we immediately saw the differences from Kruger. A cosmopolitan city with free use of all car horns! District Six Guest House was our home for our stay in Cape Town. Brenda and our hosts made us most welcome. Our first evening in Cape Town was spent at the V&A Waterfront; a large shopping mall with lots of restaurants on the harbour front.
In the morning of our first full day in the city we travelled to Newlands to see Western Province play Eastern Province. Two former Devon League players were on show, Hamza having played for Paignton and Verreyne for North Devon during their time in the U.K.
We played Bergvliet High School in a Day/Night game that evening. Devon again won the toss and elected to bat on a hard but green South African wicket.
Kopparambil opened the batting for the tourists along with Hannam. At 26 for 2 Horler joined Kopparambil at the crease and together they forged our highest partnership of the tour of 97. Kopparambil fell for 58 and Horler made 43. Enter Morison who timed the ball superbly hitting 6 sixes and 6 fours in his score of 83. The highest individual score of the tour came at a cost to Morison’s new bat now only useful as fire wood. Kidd also impressed with a quick fire 23 off of 14 balls. We finished our innings on 260 all out missing out on the last three balls.
Ford took 3 Bergvliet wickets and some quick work in the field led to 3 run outs by Read, White and Ford. One wicket each for Simmons, Harford, Read and Medlock saw Bergvliet bowled out for 136 under the floodlights.
On the Saturday we toured the beaches around Cape Town. We took a short boat ride out to a Seal colony at Hout Bay where we saw over 300 Seals. After lunch we traveled to Boulders Beach and saw the wild African Penguins up close. After some interaction and a demonstration from an elderly local we were assured Cliff Jumping was safe and we enjoyed swimming in the warmer Indian Ocean.
Our next game saw us take on Newlands Cricket High School at Green Point Track in the shadows of the Football World Cup Stadium. Devon lost the toss and were to field first. Moore and Harford opened the bowling with economical spells and Harford claimed the first wicket in the third over. Another good performance from our spin attack restricted Newlands to 204 all out. Hancock picked up 3 wickets, 2 for Kopparambil and one each to Read, Ford and Pugsley.
The opening stand of 49 between White and Read was to be our highest partnership in this innings, White top scored with 30. Ford and Kopparambil started something of a fight back scoring 24 and 28 respectively. Unfortunately the tourists were bowled out for 151; overall a disappointing performance put down to lack of sleep and tiredness.
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A well needed rest day was spent visiting the Langa Township in the morning. An impromptu drum lesson with one of the locals was probably the highlight of the day. We also got the chance to look around some of the houses which was a real eye-opener. It was a privilege to experience the conditions some people are forced to live in today. We all felt very humble and it made us appreciate how lucky we are. In the afternoon we travelled up Signal Hill for some photo opportunities.
Our next match was a 2 day game to be played at Western Province Cricket Club. With the backdrop of the iconic Table Mountain, this was an unbelievable place to play cricket.
Devon were to field first in the South African sun. We had to wait until the 21st over for the first wicket to fall to Pugsley. After 60 overs the compulsory declaration was enforced with our opponents only 4 down and the score on 231. The wickets were shared evenly between spinners Read and Pugsley.
Moore and Horler opened our first innings but we came up against a talented leg spinner who took 5 Devon wickets. Medlock, Read and Morison all made it into the twenties but only Kopparambil went further falling 3 runs short of his half century. Hancock and Kopparambil shared a 10th wicket partnership of 49 to push our score to 195 all out, leaving us with a first innings deficit of 36 runs.
Western Province second innings saw their opening batsman/keeper hit an unbeaten score of 105. They declared on 177-3 with the wickets going again to spinners Hancock and Pugsley. We were set a total of 214 to win.
With 40 overs left in the day we needed to score at just over 5 an over. The message from the coaches was to “go for it” but not to throw our wickets away. Opener Kopparambil fell for an excellent 66 in the 28th over. This bought big hitter Morison to the crease to join the already set Hannam. At this point we needed a hundred off 12 overs. With Morison mistiming one the orders changed to “bat for the draw”. Hannam made 36 before an excellent caught and bowled saw his departure. The South Africans bought out 3 helmets and stationed 8 fielders around the bat. Horler and Hancock survived 6 hostile and intimidating overs and we finished 77 short of the target and secured the draw with 2 wickets in hand.
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With the weather clear we decided to go up Table Mountain after the game. We spent three quarters of an hour watching the sunset and taking in the breathtaking views. Memories of which will stay with us forever.
For our final rest day we went to Blue Rock water sports centre. Everyone enjoyed a hilarious morning kneeboarding and cliff jumping. After lots of initial failures almost everyone managed at least one lap of the course. Tour manager and scorer, Mark, top scored with his skis. Ansell outshone all the players with lap after lap of elegant waterskiing. Everyone finished with aching arms, a small price to pay for the amount of fun that was had.
Our last day saw an early start for a team photo at Newlands before our game at The Vineyard Oval. Western Province U15’s won the toss and chose to bat. With the history of this fixture entirely in Western Province’s favour we felt we had the quality to end their 16 year unbeaten run. The home side were captained by big hitting Jono Bird, at the age of 15 already being considered for South Africa U19 squad. Bird punished our bowling attack smashing 136 not out from 115 balls, some of his hits clearing the surrounding buildings. The wickets were shared between Hancock (3), Read (2) and Medlock (1) and a sharp run out by Captain Moore. Western Province posted 327 from their 50 overs.
White and Read put on 20 for the first wicket, but at 75-5 our chances were looking slim. Enter Morison who again batted with aggression scoring 62 off 49 balls and shared a partnership of 60 with Hannam (32). Simmons (21) and Ford (33*) shared a partnership of 49 for the 9th wicket. We were eventually bowled out for 211 in the 44th over.
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Our last evening was spent at Newlands Cricket Ground where our hosts prepared a delicious BBQ. We were given free-reign of the ground and ate our dinner pitch side. The morning of our departure we got the chance to barter with locals at a market and a final opportunity to catch some rays and go for a swim at the beach.
We would just like to thank all of our South African hosts who made us feel so welcome. Also we’d like to thank our coaches: Dave Tall, Tim Ward and Chris Read. Big thank you also to Mark Ansell, Kat Hampton, John Smith and Alan Swift for making the tour possible. The experience, knowledge and memories gained will stay with us all forever.
