2009 Schools Twenty20 cricket festival

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2009 SA Sports Tours schools festival – East London report

Visiting teams arrived Sunday 27 September to a gloomy East London with the weather folk predicting a wet week ahead. Although covers were in place, overnight rain meant a delayed start. The bowlers run up at Bohs was considered too wet so games were moved to the United ground while Hams was fairly dry but needed an extra roll or two before the first ball could be bowled. The end result being that we lost two games on the opening day but thankfully managed to complete a couple of matches.

Fortunately Tuesday saw a full program of cricket thanks to both United who again came to our rescue with their ground and Stirling High who provided a synthetic wicket on a small ground which saw some big scores. By Wednesday Bohs was dry and in pristine shape allowing us to play at both Bohs and Hams. Thursday morning was very overcast and by lunch time it was decided to call off the afternoon games as persistent light rain continued to fall well into the evening. Given the gloomy outlook on Sunday night we were blessed to only lose three matches the entire week.

The week was made complete with a magnificent meal and closing function thanks to Robin at the Gonubie hotel.

Results were as follows:
Bridgehouse beat United schools by 75 runs
Lilyfontein beat Kuswag by 51 runs
Waterstone college beat Kuswag by 8 wickets
United schools beat Stirling by 8 wickets
United schools beat Kuswag by 49 runs
Lilyfontein beat Bridgehouse by 1 run
United beat Lilyfontein by 2 wickets
Bridgehouse beat Kuswag by 6 wickets
Waterstone college beat Stirling by 60 runs
Lilyfontein vs Watersone ended in a tie with Waterstone winning the power over.
Stirling beat Lilyfontein by 5 wickets
Waterstone beat Bridgehouse by 10 wickets.

At Thursday night’s prize giving, prizes were awarded as follows:
Best bowling went to Daniel Swift - Lillyfontein
Best batter – Anton van Dam (Watersone col)
Fieling prize – Thabo Madliwa – Lilyfontein

Player of the festival – Anton van Dam (Waterstone)
Team with most spirit – Kuswag
Team playing best cricket – Waterstone college.

Based on performance an All Star team was selected to recognize those boys who stood out at the festival. They were as follows:

All Stars
1. Anton van Dam (Waterstone college) captain
2. Mike Armstrong (Bridgehouse)
3. Thabo Madliwa (Lilyfontein)
4. Daniel Swift (Lilyfontein)
5. Roger Berkhout (Lilyfontein)
6. Mark Schaefer (Lilyfontein)
7. Cameron Stork (Waterstone college)
8. Keegan Allen (Lilyfontein)
9. Dale Fibiger (Kuswag)
10. Chris Schouten (Bridgehouse)
11. Dylan Vaspoli (Waterstone college)

Thanks to the following:
• Bohs, hams, United and Stirling High who provided the grounds
• Serene and Richard for arranging lunches
• The Gonubie hotel for accommodation and dinners
• Guidos Gonubie for the Pizza night.
• The umpires who did a superb job
• Vince for providing the scorers and putting the stats together.

From our side we are happy to report that the behavior of all the boys was exemplary and it was a real pleasure to meet the staff and make new friends. The feedback from both boys and staff was that it was a really enjoyable week of cricket; the hotel provided excellent value with boy’s twin sharing and each room with en suite bathroom. The meals were superb and from the feedback I received no one went hungry

Special mention must go to Pieter and Willie who brought the Kuswag boys all the way up from Toti, Riaan and Eltin who travelled up from Franchoek with Bridgehouse and Michael and Shaun who travelled down from Joburg with the Waterstone boys. These are vast distances to travel and we really appreciate the sacrifice you guys made in giving up your holidays to bring the boys through.

We look forward to next year’s event and welcoming back those schools who have already pledged their support for 2010. Let’s hope that the weather plays along.

Dale Wrede
SA Sports Tours

To see the photos from this tournament, click here