UPCC Cape Town Tour

UPCC Scorecards from our Cape Town tour! In order of games: Western Province, Belville, Stellenbosch and Cape Town Uni!

GAME 4 MATCH REPORT v University of Cape Town (Saturday):

Our last game descended on us as we made the short trip to play University of Cape Town. It was already an absolute scorcher of a day at 8am but weirdly the ground had covers on when we arrived. Underneath the covers revealed something quite odd. A green and sweaty deck appeared, surely playing into our hands as we are so used to these wickets back home. The backdrop on the ground was unbelievable as we were right in front of Table Mountain just like Monday's game at Western Province.

A mutual agreement between the skippers meant that we would bowl first. Blanny and Cox opened up again with the new rock and both started very economical. UCT were going at 3 runs per over for a long time but without losing a wicket. Johnson came on and bowled a first over that went for a lot but then bowled his 10 over spell on the bounce for only 38 runs, a serious effort in the heat, well bowled. Sanjit was trudging in from the other end and started with his customary wide but on the whole bowled good areas getting the batsman to play and miss a lot. Scotty got two wickets in his spell, both from full tosses so not sure if they count but otherwise this was best spell on tour only going for 39 off 8 overs. Our sixth bowler was Eteen who burgled 3 wickets at the end as the batters were going for it, the saying "he misses you hit comes to mind". Blanny came back on at the end and also took a few cheap ones to finish with 3fer. He was on a hat trick but it went for four. Lol. UCT finished on 230-8 off 50 overs, probably quite a bit under par at the half way stage with the pitch flattening out and becoming lifeless.

Lunch was a delight. Chicken with potato, pasta and salad. Really nice meal for everyone. Kudos to Sharon.

Regan and Mark opened up for us. Reegs got fortunate early on being dropped at second slip but soon hit a few short and wide balls for four. Mark was also dropped at second slip from a nick early on. Then on these two dispatched the bad balls and both reached fifty around the 15th over. They both kept pressing on at good rates and put the bowling everywhere. As both were nearing their tons they were both dropped again at long on which was fortunate. Regan reached his 100 first in the 24th over with a flick down the leg side for a single. Pablo then reached his ton towards the end with a drive down to long off. Regan finished 109no off 87 balls. Mark finished 103no off 87 balls also. We chased down 230 with 10 wickets remaining off 28.1 overs. Absolute top effort from these two and everyone else in the field. Great that we finished the cricket games with a win, it was deserved!

Team: Derham, Eteen, Cox, Sandhu, White, Morgan, Alam (W), Campopiano (C), Suddens, Dale, Johnson, Blandford.

GAME 3 MATCH REPORT V Stellenbosch University (Friday) and episode 6 of with John Vanvaardn who is one of the Stelle boys who is a first class cricketer:

In short, today we played at one of the best grounds we've all played at, chased leather for 3 hours and hammered by 218 runs. We then watched cricket at one of the best grounds in the world.

Our alarms went off very early for a 7.30am leave time to make the 45 minute commute to the very picturesque town of Stellenbosch. As soon as we arrived everyone was taken aback by the views and facilities. We then cracked right into our football match which was an absolute thriller, Team Mabs won 3-2 to take the series with one game to go.
Campo won the toss again and elected to bowl first on a deck that looked county standard, absolute rock solid. Blanny and Cox opened up with the shoddy readers ball and actually bowled ok without much reward, Cox had a nick go right through 1st and 2nd slip for which he kicked off about. Cox then bowled more full tosses than he's had KFC's which shows you how many full tosses he bowled. Anyway they were 100-0 off 15 overs before their first wicket fell, Cox getting it. Johnson came onto bowl and started well, he had a tough catch dropped by Elliot standing up. Mabs and Bellars then bowled in tandem and bowled very well in patches, going at a run a ball but taking wickets throughout. Bellars was the pick of the bowlers taking 4-53 off his 10 overs. Blanny and Johnson bowled the last few overs and got slightly carted but the ball was doing nothing so had nothing much to work with. Stellenbosch finished 348-8 off 50 overs.

Tea was very enjoyable, a Lasagne and salad which went down a treat except Regan who just had some bread rolls.

Onto the batting, Jamie and Elliot opening up. The two opening bowlers just hit a length, ball in ball out, with a bit of nibble at good pace. Jamie hit a few early boundaries before nicking behind. Elliot took a while to get going but soon hit a few nice boundaries through the off side to get him up and running. Suds came in and was greeted with Jaffa after Jaffa, it was really hard to score runs against a quality opening attack. Suds then nicked off and reluctantly walked but he definitely hit it. Morgan joined Evans at the crease and to show the difference, we only had 50 off 15 overs compared to Stelle's 100 at the same stage. Two new seamers came on and again just hit really good areas consistently. Morgs hit a few nice shots before trying to run a second on a their pro players arm, rookie mistake. Campo joined Evans with the score at 80-2 just as their pro player came on to bowl his left arm orthodox (he's plays for the Cape Cobras). Safe to say he was alright and looked immediately threatening. Evans got bowled by him (Kyle Simmonds) for what turned out to be our top score of 38, good knock but just not quick enough to keep up with the rate. Campo batted well and hit a few good boundaries off the pro (he really wanted to get that in this report). Mabs, Cox and Bellars all fell softly for low scores and suddenly Johnson wandered in at no10 (2 places too high) to the crease looking incredibly out of place as he played about a year too late on a drive as the opening bowlers came back on looking to wrap things up. This is exactly what happened getting Johnson bowled who when he returned to the dugout explained to us "It's rather windy isn't it". Blanny was no11 but Campo was the last wicket to fall for a good 30 as the umpire triggered him LBW, purely looking to end the game and have a beer. We were all out for 130 which wasn't good enough as we lost our last 8 wickets for just 50 runs. However they were a very very good outfit, having 7 1st team players and being similar to an MCCU standard so it was always going to be hard.

In the evening we headed to Newlands, one of the best international grounds in the world. We had been invited to watch a club one day final between Belville and Rondebosch which Rondebosch won easily really by chasing 215 down 5 wickets down. Our squad sat on the grassed bank which was life goals and then some did a lap around the outfield as there was zero security. Possibly the best lap many have embarked on.

Overall, absolute class day.

Team: White, Evans (W), Suddens, Morgan, Campopiano (C), Derham, Alam, Cox, Bellars, Johnson, Blandford.

Today we climbed Table Mountain with a few very hungover boys - the greatest challenge however, was trying to appreciate the view through the mist.

Tomorrow all 22 of us go to Khayelitsha to assist with cricket coaching in the townships. We also just happen to be meeting Gary Kirsten.

GAME 2 MATCH REPORT v Belville CC:

Our second game arrived and an early start was not ideal as we made the journey to Belville CC. The club had two pitches and unfortunately we were on the reserve pitch, the outfield was bare and the pitch crumbly.

Eventually after a delayed start because of a bit of rain the umpires decided on a 35 over game, presumably because one umpire was standing in his 78th game of the season (seriously). Pre match football game finished 3-0 to Team Mabs after a few players on Team Johnson decided they were good enough not to put any effort in (Scotty & Morgs).

Campo won the toss and elected to bowl first. Blanny bowled a wide in the first over again (shock) but generally had a good opening spell without a wicket. Cox from the other end trundled in for 7 overs on the spin bowling good lines and lengths (except his last over when he got carted). Cox got the first wicket getting the opener nicked off caught behind by Evans who was standing up. Sanj replaced Blanny and bowled very well to be fair with limited wides which surprised every man and his dog. Scotty came on and first ball completely deceived the batsman who skied it, Scotty called for it and then just didn't even touch it as it descended straight down to him (identical to Bellars yesterday). Cue everyone laughing inside. Anyway, the Belville batters just went after every bowler and hit the ball blumin hard. Campo dropped his 3rd on tour off Scotty and then Scotty got hit massively over cow corner which has probably only just landed in the next postcode. We kept chipping away with wickets as Belville kept coming hard at us with lots of boundaries but chances. Bellars bowled well and grabbed a nice little 3-fer but went for some big sixes aswell. Mabs came on towards the end and quite simply burgled a 4-fer with catches on the rope and a stumping. They finished 212ao off 32 overs.

Tea then came which was biltong on bread and really nice banana cake. Some members however thought this wasn't a little light on quantity and just grumbled throughout.

Regan and Mark opened up and started reasonably well until Mark got bounced out trying to hook for 6. Evans came in, predictably blocked a maiden out and then got out LBW for 1. Suds came in at 4 after Campo decided he didn't feel well enough to go no4. Suds got a really nice 11 but then got out very softly caught and bowled. Campo finally arrived at no5 shortly before Regan got out top edging a sweep for a good 36. Mabs came to the crease at no6 and immediately put everyone on edge, he hit our first 6 of the innings hooking down to fine leg but then got caught somewhere (can't remember where, probably somewhere on the leg side). Sanjit joined Campo as he reached his fifty with a pulled 6. They put on a very good quick partnership of 60 as the game suddenly looked winnable. However Sanj got a leading edge to point for a run a ball 31. We now needed 40 off 4 overs with Campo in and now the 'heavy med' Cox. Campo was batting very well until he got run out comfortably for a very good 80 off 68. We now needed 16 off the last over, Blanny on strike, swung and missed the first 2 balls but then got a single. 15 off 3 now. Unbelievably they then had an all run 4 with buzzers, Cox is blowing hard here. 11 off 2. Grandstand packed. Cox mowed a 4 at mid wicket. 6 to tie last ball. Cox got run out. We lost by 5 runs finishing 207-8 off 35 overs. Great game.

The night finished with the traditional fines session, a cracking meal at Belville and lots of pints with their lads!

Team: Derham, Eteen, Evans (W), Suddens, Campopiano (C), Alam, Sandhu, Cox, Blandford, Dale, Bellars.