Ireland Tour - One Day and T20 Series with an Alma mata

Having won the One Day series with one currently on the way, the SA A team will leave Belfast tomorrow (24 August 2012) to a town called Malahide.  We will begin our our 4 match T20 series at Oakhill Cricket Club, the venue of our first "Test", which was drawn after the first 2 days had been washed out.

Whilst in Londonderry, the team saw the arrival of 4 One Day and T20 boys.  One of them was Rowan Richards an Alma Mata of the UWC and SS4SL production line.  He is the first UWC graduate to be selected for an SA A team and this was in the main due to his solid debut season for the Titans.

He will now put his skills up against the Irish National Team, if selected however he will definitely benefit from being around this very disciplined and talented squad.   A squad that boosts the names of current contracted Proteas.  

Thus far our stay in Ireland has been a frustrating one due to the  inclement weather around.  We have played at a very high standard, as we did pride ourselves on that prior to the tour.  Total professionalism has been shown thus far by the boys, as it can easily waver in these trying conditions.  We will now focus our attention on the shortest formate of the game.  The 4 match T20 series will definitely bring together Irelands best XI, as they prepare of the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka.

Rowan will benefit hugely be working with the likes of former Protea bowling coach and SA A Head Coach , Vinnie Barnes and Strength and Conditioning Coach, Greg King, whom is the current Chennai Superkings and form India employee.   

Here's also wishing Gurshwin Rabie, the new Warriors contracted fast bowler a good start to the season ahead.

A proud UWC graduate........

Wet Wet Wet

The Olympics have just ended and South Africa have a few more sporting hero's.  It was been amazing to sit back and watch how the boys supported each and every South African competitor, from the kayak bronze medalist to the swimming superstars.

We arrived in Ireland on the 5 August 2012, today is the 13th and the team has just played 2 days of cricket.  The weather has not been favourable, minimal outside practices as well as game time has been a bit frustrating, but who are we to challenge mother nature.  I'm currently sitting in my room, on the morning of the first day of the 2nd "Test" in Limavady Northern Ireland.  We should be about to start but weather has followed us yet again.  The "Test" will be hosted by Colraine Cricket Club.  The first "Test" in Wicklow, Republic of Ireland, resulted in draw due to the first 2 days being washed out due to a waterlogged field.  However days 3 and 4 brought some personal highlights. Our wicket keeper Heino Kuhn showed some great skill under pressure to bring about an aggressive century which could have been achieved without the partnership he had with Rory Klienveldt.  The Irish did not perform very well with the bat and was sent in to follow on. The chief destroyer with a career best of 7 wickets in an innings was Wayne Parnell.  Due to the time lost in the game, a result was difficult to attain.

The team was based at the Croke Park Hotel in Dublin, which was about a 45 minute drive to the Oakhill Cricket Club in Wicklow.  I must commend the staff at the Hotel for their service and the effort they made to make as feel at home.   They treated us to a South African braai.  The boys ate borewors and even had Jacaranda FM on live streaming radio.   Our liaison officer, Paul O'Hara, was of great help and showed the team around and got us to walk across to road to watch a Gaelic Football game.  Interesting to say the least.

Dublin is a wonderful city, rich in culture and history.  First world and much more to do, but from a cricket point of view I would rather have the weather of Zimbabwe.  The Triangular "A" Series hosted by Zimbabwe saw us dominate in all disciplines, prior to us coming to Ireland.  We went unbeaten in the tournament as we left Sri Lanka A and  Zimbabwe A, scratching their heads due to the power of our batting, skills of our bowling and commitment in the field.   The highlights of the tournament was the leadership of Faf Du Plessis, the batting prowess of Colin Ingram and the bowling efforts of the young Lions duo of  Chris Morris and Aaron Phangiso.

With positive series wins in the form of the "Test" series against the Sri Lankan A team and Triangular "A" Tournament in Zim, it all bods well for the current tour of Ireland.     

The "A" Tour - "Tests vs SL A"

A test series against the Sri Lanka "A" team and the "A" triangular series in Zimbabwe is a part of history at present, but it is certainly mission accomplished.

A very strong SA "A" team was selected over a month ago.  The initial camp at the High Performance Centre ( HPC) in Pretoria consisted mainly of the " Test" team, whom played the Sri Lanka A team in 2 "Tests" in a warm and sunny Durban.  We won the series 1-0, after playing a nearly faultless first test, which consisted of several individual performances. We did not play great cricket in the second "Test" but this was mainly due to 2 injuries, 2 fast bowlers, which most certainly put us onto the back foot.  To add insult to "injury", one of our back up bowlers, injured himself on the third morning whilst warming up.  


We had to compete with one front line fast bowler, an injured bowler, working at 60% and a spinner in our second innings.  These were definitely long days for myself.


During the second "Test", we were joined by the one day players, whom began preparation for the "A" triangular series in Harare, Zimbabwe.  That meant the squad increased significantly and they had to be managed as the coaches needed to get them going with one day skills training.  The workload in the physio room also increased a bit as players from both the "Test" and "One day" team needed to be managed.  

At the end of the "Test" series, 2 players needed to go back to their respective homes, due to injury and recuperate and get fit again for Ireland selection.