Plans are now almost finalised for the tour starting on December 4th.
Fixture list.
Dec 7th Windhoek Invitation u 18 XI Wanderers ground Windhoek
Dec 8th Namibian Invitation u 18 XI Wanderers ground Windhoek
Dec 9th am T20 v Windhoek XI Wanderers ground Windhoek
Dec 9th pm T20 v Namibian XI Wanderers ground Windhoek
Wanderer's ground is the Namibian national ground, not quite Lord's but internationals are played there. We are very fortunate to be the guests of the Namibian Cricket Association and to be allowed to use the excellent practice facilities there as we acclimatise before the first match.
Dec 11th Woodridge College Woodridge College
Dec 12th Thornhill Country XI Woodridge College
Woodridge and Bancroft's have an association which began in 1993 when Woodridge first played at Bancroft's. Since then we have played cricket six times and rugby once. Head Craig Neave spent a sabbatical term at Bancroft's in 2004 and from 1994 to 2009 over 20 Woodridge gap students spent a year working at Bancroft's. This academic year Old Bancroftian Liam Woods is at Woodridge working as what is termed there a "stooge". Several Bancroftians over the years have fullfilled that role. The College XI is made up from current pupils and the Country XI is an XI of former pupils and local neighbours to Woodridge.
Dec 13th Knysna Sports School XI Rheenendahl
The Knysna Sports School is run by a good friend of mine Keith Cretchley, who has become a great friend of Bancroft's over the years. Keith's sports school offers about a dozen different sports to youngsters from all around Knysna who are brought in by bus. It was Keith's initiative in the first place and this tour we will be playing at a new ground which he has had built on his own initiative. We have played against his sports school on every tour since 1997.
Dec 16th Hermanus CC Hermanus
This is a new fixture. Hermanus is a popular spot on the southern coast of South Africa about 75 miles east of Cape Town. In their winter it is a famous spot for watching whales. There will be none to see in December, sadly.
Dec 18th Western Province CC WPCC
Dec 19th Avendale CC Avendale
Dec 21st St Augustine's CC St Augustine's
Our three fixtures in Cape Town have been organised, as on previous tours, by my good frioend Roly Abrahams, another teacher, although Roly now works for the Western Province Education department; he is also a coach and colts organiser in Western Province cricket. WPCC is a relatively new ground, we played there first in 2007. It was built when the members of Western Province Cricket Club sold most of their ground ( Newlands ) to South African cricket. ( I don't think the members of MCC would ever sell Lord's except the pavillion to the ECB but that would be a parallel in England) and with the money raised they built this new ground with fabulous facilities for a whol;e range of sport which is open to all the community. Avendale is the club at which Bob Woolmer ( Kent and England and later manager of South Africa and then Pakistan before his sudden death 4 years ago) set up coaching for under privileged children during the apartheid era. St Augustine's is famous as the cricketing home of Basil d' Olivera, the Cape Coloured cricketer who came to England to play international cricket because he was not allowed to do so at the time in South Africa. His inclusion in the England touring party of South Africa in 1968, and the South African refusal to allow him to tour, led to the chain of events which culminated in South Africa's isolation from international sport from the early 1970s to the early 1990s.
On the days off so far we have booked on December 14th a trip around the Knysna lagoon and on Dec 20th a trip to Robben Island the prison where Nelson Mandela spent most of his 27 years of captivity. We will also go up Table Mountain when in Cape Town, that trip has to be scheduled around the weather. The cable car does not run when the wind is blowing hard, a quite frequent occurance in December!
