The last day in Namibia saw the temperature reach new heights - during the afternoon and the second T20 match it was 40 degrees - it was no wonder that the team were wilting a bit!
After breakfast ( the usual meal feast for most of the team as it was a buffet) we set off for the ground for the two T20 matches. The opposition was waiting for us - the only problem was that the groundsman had been told a 2.00 start ( both teams were there for a 9.30 start ) and no one had told the lady with the key for the pavilion!! We eventually got started at about 11.00 against what we expected to be an u15 side - well there were pretty big u15s and one owned up to being 18 when challenged about not wearing a helmet! They were another useful unit and posted 124 in their 20 overs. Bancroft's replied with 104 thanks to an excellent partnership of 60 between Tom Hartington ( 33 ) and Matt Tann ( 24 not out) - no the others did not really trouble the scorers - a series of silly shots and some panic letting them down. The second game was further delayed as the lunches had been sent to another ground - it has to be said that the strandard of cricket has been excellent but the organisation did not match up - JGB was heard to comment about inability to organise knees ups in brewery as the standard they achieved! This match was agianst the national u19 T20 team - yet again they were strong and the heat was getting to the team - 4 days in the Namibian sun was taking its toll. The bowling failed to get a grip and the fielding weas lethargic at best - the opposition posted 191 for 2. Bsancroft's reply of 82 - 5 was disappointing as only Rishabh Shah - now off the sick list - who scored 33, Rahul Patel (16) and Daniel Willoughby (15 not out) impressed with the bat. Afet the game presentation of Bancroft's shirts were made to the team we had played 3 time sover three days and a few words were said by JGB in which he commented on the vast improvement in u 18 Namibian cricket he has seen over his three visits to the country and also the excellent spirit in which the cricket was played. The Namibian team were a delight and excellent ambasadors for their country.
Back at the hotel a fines meeting was held - an excllent way to develop team bonding and again we discussed where things had not gone right. This was followed by the third eveing meal at the hotel buffet at which one or two tourist broke new records for the amount they ate!
Friday was a day of travel - first though was the hardest part of the day - getting 17 cricketers, without their Mums to do it for them, to pack and get ready to travel. After one or two wortds of encouragement we were just about ready for our 10.00 departure once once one or two missing items were found, usually in someone else's luggage! We thenb said goodbye to the delightful staff at the Country Club and Hotel , our base throughout the stay in Namibia.
That proved to be the easist part of our departure from the country! At the airport there were scenes of some chaos! We arrived there at 11.00 for a 12.40 flight - the small check in hall was full of people checking in for a jumbo flight to Germany which had been due to depart at 10.00!! Once our gear had been checked in it was off to immigratrion where we filled in the same forms as we had on arrival and then stood in a rugby scrum to pass one of the two officials on duty just to join the queue for the one scanner available at security. Having finally achieved that we burst into the departure lounge where there wasn't a seat to be had as the passengers were still waiting for their jumbo to load!! Arriving and departing from Jo'burg was much less stressful but it was not surprising that many of the party were asleep on the flight after the tiring early part of the day! At 18.30 we touched down at Port Elizabth to be met by Criag Neave, the Headmaster and an old friend, and the Woodridge bus. After a stop en route at a Kentucky fried chicken for supper we got to Woodridge and settled into our accommodation in one of their boarding houses. It was not quite the 5 stars that the team was used to but was more than adequate.
Saturday dawned; at 7.00, so JGB reported on his return from his early morning exercise, the sun was shining and all looked set fair! A false dawn.
There were two celebrations today, one for Bancroft's, it is Matt Tann's birthday and the team sang Happy Birthday as he was given his cards brought from England, and the other for the locals around Woodridge, because at about 8.30 the clouds built up and by 9.00 it was raining heavily thus breaking one of the worst droughts they have had! As this blog is posted, it is now 1.45 local time, it is still raining and therefore our chance to get our own back on Woodridge College has been abandoned without a ball being bowled. This was all on a day when the weather forecast had been for a fine dry day - it isn't only the BBC that get the weather wrong! The boys are now contenting themselves with a game of football in the rain and some may go swimming afterwards in one of the three pools on the campus - they wont get any wetter in the water. They can then relax in the commoin room and watch satellite TV, something they all have PhDs in! This evening we are off to a local game lodge hopefully to see some game but also to have an African style evening.
Tomorrow we have a match against an invitation XI, 10 of which are Old Boys of the school of a range of ages and the 11th player is an Old Bancroftian, Liam Wood, who is at Woodridge on a gap year scheme. He met us this morning at breakfastr and he is clearly enjoying an excellent year out here. Let's hope the sun will shine.
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