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Girls' Development Tour South Africa 2009 The Devon Girls Development side returned from Cape Town after enjoying an enjoyable if not always successful tour recently. The standard of opposition ranged from South African international players to girls very new and inexperienced to the game. A playing record of three wins and three losses is probably a fair reflection in terms of results, perhaps the first game of the tour against Northern Suburbs was a game that could have gone either way with the hosts getting home in the last over. Against a very strong Southern Suburbs side and Western Province XI on the next two days the tourists bowled and fielded exceptionally in limiting the scores to 229 and 206 respectively after in both matches the South Africans were looking at significantly bigger totals. Despite relatively promising starts in both these games with the bat both innings’ fell away quite quickly to give the home sides victories which probably flatter them a little, although they were undoubtedly the better sides. A re-arranged fixture saw the tourists having to play a fourth match on the trot, despite a victory this was probably the lowest point of the tour. The girls were due a rest and to be asked to play a fourth match was difficult enough but to end up having to loan fielders to Western Province in game that they had requested to be moved was disappointing to say the least. Still the match ended up in a comfortable win for the Devon girls. The girls then enjoyed a much needed three day break where they took the opportunity to engage in some sightseeing and beach time. Cape Point, Table Mountain and Boulders beach provided some much needed experience of the South African culture for the girls, following the trip to Robben Island, famous for the incarceration of Nelson Mandela, on the previous weekend. The evenings were generally spent down at the Victoria and Alfred waterfront whilst on once occasion an evening at Canal Walk, Century City was organised. The final weekend of the tour saw the girls enjoy visits to both Newlands, as they watched the Cape Cobras lose out to the Nashua Dolphins in a great 20/20 semi final encounter, the Cobras have since gone on to claim the SA 20/20 title, which also saw the re-emergence of Graham Smith from his injury sustained in Australia. There was also a chance to meet and have photographs with JP Duminy, the fast rising star of South African and World cricket. The next Saturday saw a trip to the rugby to see the Stormers take on the Natal Sharks in the opening Super 14 fixture, again a magnificent experience, unfortunately once again the Cape side were the losers. Sunday and Monday saw the girls return to cricket action and against slightly lower grade opposition finished the tour on a high note with two fairly convincing victories against Western Cape Ladies and Western Province Colts. A big thank you to all at the District Six Guest House and to Shahiem and Faidal, our excellent drivers and hosts. Equally a thank you to all the parents, sponsors and supporters of the tour who made the whole experience possible. The girls certainly had a wonderful time out in the sun and all will come back a lot richer for the experience, they will have learned a lot from the games they played in. They will almost certainly all come back as better players with things to work on to improve themselves as cricketers and the memories and friends they have made should stay with them for a lifetime. From the tour management a big thank you to the girls, they were outstanding ambassadors for girls’ cricket, their behaviour was exemplary and they were a credit to everyone back home, parents, clubs, schools and county alike. |
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