Devon Cricket Board - SA TOUR 2013

DEVON CRICKET BOARD DEVELOPMENT TOUR

SOUTH AFRICA 2013

The twelfth tour to South Africa followed the pattern of previous visits in providing our young cricketers with a stern examination of their cricket skills. The overall experience was enhanced by the warm and generous reception afforded by our well established friends in Kruger and Cape Town who did everything possible to ensure that the players gained a unique insight into daily life in South Africa.

Our first match, the established two day fixture against Nelspruit at Skukuza CC, resulted in a comfortable victory by 102 runs. A good all round performance in the first innings enabled us to gain control of the game - deficit of 121 entitled us to enforce the follow on, an option we declined to take.

Having batted Nelspruit out of contention we faced the challenge of having to take 10 wickets in order to win the game, something not required in limited overs games. This was achieved, but almost 60 overs were required before the final wicket was taken.

Unfortunately some internal politics meant that Mpumalanga were unable to field a representative side as scheduled for our second game. A local college, Penryn (not I might add on holiday from Cornwall) stepped in at the last minute for which we were very grateful. No fault of theirs but the opposition was a little below par and we were able to win very comfortably by the large margin of 199 runs.

As ever in Kruger the hospitality was outstanding and the players enjoyed a magnificent insight into this outstanding wildlife area - something they will probably never forget.

The first game in Cape Town, a day/night affair against a Township Select XI, illustrated the enormous improvements in the quality of cricket played by these young black athletes. They had the confidence to bat having won the toss (something they would have been reluctant to do in the past) and posted a useful 172.

We lost regular wickets in reply and at one stage looked very likely to lose the game until a remarkable innings of 17 in 10 balls by Ben Green enable us to win by one wicket with just two balls remaining.

We then travelled to Paarl situated in one of the major wine production regions for a 50 over game at the suburb Boland Park stadium, venue for international and first-class fixtures. Maybe it was the heat, 38 degrees and not the slightest breeze, but we produced our most disappointing performance of the tour being dismissed for just 129 by Boland U15s on a good pitch before seeing our opponents make light work of scoring 130 for 2 in just 27 overs.

The fifth game was our usual two-day fixture against Western Province U14s at Vineyard Oval with Table Mountain providing a dramatic backdrop to proceedings. This game is inevitably a tough physical challenge with a format requiring 120 overs to be bowled each day.

Having lost the toss and being asked to field we bowled accurately and fielded keenly in reducing WP to 76 for four off 30 overs. We were then given a reminder of the quality of opposition as 149 runs were added for the fifth wicket before WP eventually declared at 276 for 8.

Our response was disappointing and first innings total of only 145 left Western Province very much in the ascendancy. They chose to bat rather than enforce the follow on before setting a target of 255 to win.

This was always going to be a daunting task, particularly when we were reduced to 102 for 5. However some enterprising batting by Dan Wolf and Will Thompson,

who put on 54 for the sixth wicket, enabled us to achieve a respectable 216 before being all out

This game, along with our first fixture in Kruger illustrated the value of playing the longer format where players encounter situations that do not arise in limited over matches.

Our final game against Western Province U15 provided the stiffest test of the tour, pleasing therefore that we responded by producing some of our best cricket.

Controlled bowling backed up by enthusiastic fielding restricted WP to 202 for 8 (Ben Steer 5 for 35) in their allotted overs on a good batting surface.

What appeared to be a very gettable total became somewhat more challenging when we were reduced to 69 for 6 by some excellent bowling and fielding, at which point there was the danger of subsiding to a heavy defeat. However some enterprising batting by Ben Green (50) and Dan Wolf (54 not out including four 4s and three 6s) threatened the WP total. As it turned out the loss of early wickets proved decisive as we were bowled out 42 runs short of the required target.

The itinerary was designed to provide varying levels of competition from matches where we might be expected to do well to those where success would be have to be hard-won, which is pretty well what happened.

Any critical analysis of individual and team performances should take into account that while the opposition were in the middle of their cricket season our players were required to emerge from the depths of an English winter with little time for acclimatization before taking on determined and competitive opponents.

They achieved very much what we had hoped for prior to the tour. The team spirit was excellent while the bowling and fielding was of a good standard. Our weakest suit was depth in batting which proved to be the significant factor in games we lost.

Ben Steer, captaining a county side for the first time, coped generally well with his on field decision-making and his personal performance was enhanced rather than adversely affected by the additional responsibility.

As ever, development cannot be judged simply by team results and there is good reason to believe that individuals returned home much richer for the experience.

Sincere thanks are due to all the coaching and managerial staff for providing the players with highly professional support. It is evident from comments made during the tour and since returning that their expertise and guidance was fully appreciated by players and parents.

Dave Moseby, an established senior umpire in the DCL officiated very effectively in each of the tour games as becoming an integral part of the tour party.

Finally, as ever, a really big thanks you to all our friends in South Africa who do so much to ensure that our young cricketers have such a safe and enjoyable experience. Much of what we do would not be possible without their cooperation.

RESULTS

17^th & 18^th February v Nelspruit at Skukuza CC

Devon 1^stinnings 217 – 7 (B Steer 66, D Pyle 50)

Nelspruit 1^st Innings 96 - 10 ( B Steer 3 - 11), B Green 2 -18

Devon 2^nd Innings 104 - 10

Nelspruit 2^nd Innings 123 – 10 (B Steer 5 -16)

Devon won by 102 runs.

20^th February v Penryn College at Skukuza CC

Devon 321 – 5 (D Pyle 115, B Green 112, C Barriball 50))

Penryn College 122 – 10 (D Goodey 4 – 16)

Devon won by 199 runs

22^nd February v WP Township XI at Bergvliet HS (Day/Night)

Township XI 1172 -10

Devon 174 - 9 (A Huxtable 24)

Devon won by 1 wicket

25^th February v Boland U15 at Paarl

Devon 129 all out (C Barriball 32, D Wolf 32)

Boland 130 – 2

Boland won by 8 Wickets

26^th & 27^th February v Western Province U14 at Vineyard Oval

WP 1^st Innings 276 - 8 (B Steer 5 - 14)

Devon 1^st Innings 145 10 (B Steer 39)

WP 2^nd Innings 133 -3

WP won by 48 runs.

1^st March v Western Province U15 at Northerns Goodwood CC)

WP 202 – 8 ((B Steer 5 - 3

Devon 160 – 10 (D Wolf 54*,B Green 50)

WP won by 42 runs•.

STATISTICS

BATTING BOWLING FIELDING

	I	R	HS	Av	O	M	R	W	Av	ER	C	ST
Charlie Barriball	7	166	50	23.7	7.1	1	26	2	13.0	3.6
Bradley Causey	4	6	3*	2.0	26	2	93	1	93.0	3.6	2
Toby Codd	6	58	19	8.3	59.2	14	178	9	19.8	2.2	5
Freddie Filor	5	35	16	8.8							3	1
Charles Fitzroy	5	47	20	11.8	12	2	36	2	18.0	3.0
Dan Goodey	5	2	2	1.0	40	2	161	5	32.2	4.0
Ben Green	8	258	112*	43.0	46	13	107	7	15.3	2.3	4
Alfie Huxtable	6	49	24	8.2	30	2	94	3	31.3	3.1	1
Dan Pyle	6	208	115	34.7	9.3	1	38	1	38.0	4.0
Jake Reddick	5	24	9	4.8	42	5	156	6	26.0	3.7
Ben Steer	7	148	66	21.1	47	7	178	17	10.5	3.8
Will Thompson	6	87	37	14.5							2
Jamie Telford	5	54	18	10.8							2	2
Dan Wolf	7	157	54*	39.3	29.1	4	106	6	17.7	3.6	1

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