Filham Park, the home of Ivybridge CC<br>credit: All photos Conrad Sutcliffe

CONRAD SUTCLIFFE REPORTING

IVYBRIDGE are poised to parade South African batsman Cebo Tshiki as their overseas player next season.

The contract is signed, the appropriate visa applied and all Ivybridge officials are waiting for is for the paperwork to be signed off.

Tshiki, who will be 32 when the Tolchards Devon League season starts in May, started his professional career with Border in 2011 and has been with Boland since 2013.

Although Tshiki has appeared a handful of times for Cape Cobra in Franchise Cricket, he has mostly played in the three-day CSA competition for Boland. Team-mates include Stiaan van Zyl, Janne Malan and Kyle Abbott, a former DCL pro at Lewdown.

ON BOARD: Run getter James FulnerHis average in all three forms of cricket – red and white-ball – hovers around 20. He has 11 First-Class half-centuries in the stats attic and a top score of 175 for Border against Free State.

Tshiki is no stranger to cricket in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland having spent four previous seasons as a league professional.

Cornish club St Minver engaged Tshiki for the 2015 season, by the end of which he had scored more than 1,100 runs in County Division One.

Two seasons in the Northern Ireland with Fox Lodge yielded 1,570 runs and 27 wickets.

East Anglian club Brooke CC offered Tshiki terms for the 2019 season when he delivered more than 600 league runs in 14 games at an average in the high 50s. Sixteen wickets were a bonus.

Ivybridge consolidated in the B Division last season following relegation at the end of the 2019 campaign, which was the last played in full before the Covid crisis struck.Jon Sparkes

Free-scoring batsman James Fulner, who has an impressive record in the intermediate divisions of the Tolchards DCL, has already switched from Lustleigh for the 2022 season. 

The arrival of Tshiki suggests Ivybridge are putting a squad together to challenge at the top of the table next summer.

Jon Sparkes, Ivybridge’s league representative, said Tshiki had a lot to offer on and off the field.

“He is an experienced First Class player who knows what league cricket is all about,” said Sparkes.

“Importantly, Cebo has the equivalent of an ECB level-three coaching qualification, which he will be putting to good use with our seniors and older juniors, a group where we have some great talent.”

Winter net sessions are already under way on Sundays (2-4pm) at Devonport High for Boys.

“We are always interested in new players of all abilities,” said Sparkes.