It was a long flight to Port Elizabeth, taking three flights to get there. We were met by school staff Mr Suti and Mr Du Ploy. Mr Suti is the coach of the first team and Mr Deploy coaches the U15’s and he also stays in the school hostel with us. After they greeted us, we went to the Summerstrand area in Port Elizabeth. Next stop was to Muir College, Uitenhage which was a 35-minute drive outside of Port Elizabeth. On the way we got a bit of a feel for what South Africa was like that there is a lot of poor people lying on the road and we could also see some of the huge townships. When we arrived at Muir it was different seeing cricket squares at the front of the school rather than normal rugby pitches. After we dropped the bags at the school we went to the cricket pitches and met the first team captain Sena. We had a small net out in the middle on the one of the five school squares. Later on that evening we went to the local Spur with staff members Mr Wahl, Mr Du Ploy and Mr Suti.
On Wednesday we were introduced to the school in an assembly and met principal (Mr Stephens) and the head of discipline (Mr Francis) and got our class group also we also selected our subjects. We received our school blazers and ties from the school shop. After this, we got ready to train with 1st XI squad. It was very different and nothing like Ireland in terms of the wickets we practiced on and the temperature we play in. That evening we drove around Uitenhage and got a feel for what it was like and where the local shops are. We went to a four-day match at St Georges Park where local franchise side the Warriors were playing the Cobras. We got see the standard of what first class cricket which was quite impressive.
There is also a gym and pool at the school that we can use after training or on the weekends. We went to the Bellingham & Smith factory last Friday and saw how bats are made for scratch. On Saturday it was match day. Max, Rory and Ian were playing on the first XI and myself and Aaron were playing on the 2nd XI. Both teams were playing against St Andrew’s but the seconds were playing away in a wonderful facility in Grahamstown but lost badly by 9 wickets. The first lost too by 166 runs in a match that was looking like a draw but quick wickets fell and that was that. It would be fair to say St Andrew’s are the strongest cricket school in the whole of the Eastern Cape. Last week’s game was against York in George and this weekend we play against Graham College.
Eoin Barron
Gonzaga College & Railway Union CC