Hi there to everyone from a sunny South Africa.
We are having a great time and the last two weeks have been amazing.
This week’s fixtures were cancelled after there was heavy rainfall in the middle of the week and the wickets were unable to be prepared. So this weekend has been a well relaxed weekend and I think was deserved as we are all training hard mostly up to 4-5 times a week.
Last week’s fixtures were mixed results, the seconds were playing against Graham College and Mark and David were selected. They bowled Graham out for 140 and just lost the game by just 2 runs.
The 1XI game was a different case, myself and Fionn were playing against Graham 1XI and we posted a target of 250-9 of 55 overs with Fionn contributing 36. We then bowled them out for 55 our fast bowler Neo taking 5-5. This was a very strong performance from Muir seeing as the number 3 batsman for Graham was the South African under 17's wicket keeper. Overall it was a good result.
On Monday’s we all take time out to help coach the schools 1st year’s teams. There are huge numbers down each week but we have kept them all occupied and we have set up a few new games that they seem to enjoy. There is some good talent coming through the junior school at present.
When the weekend’s fixtures were complete we headed down to Jeffery’s Bay. It was 37 degrees with no wind out and it was a scorcher, us Irish lads had never felt before, even Donner’s got a bit of a tan!! Anyway we all got a bit burnt no matter how much lotion we put on, but it was still a very good day at the beach.
We are all still picking up things as we come across them, we have had our own experiences and I think they are all coming together and leading to much improvement, on and off the field of play.
Bye for now from South Africa. Regards from the Irish boys
Sam Murphy