South Africa cricket tour

U-16 tour South Africa
My heart was beating fast. Adrenaline gulfed through my arteries. My mind was controlled by excitement. Today was the day. The day when the trip of our life would commence. The first day of the HCC Under 16 tour to South Africa ,(Made possible by Stills, the main spnsor has to be mentioned).

We had a good start. Everyone was well on time and wore the same team clothes (except for one screw-up). The check-in went flawlessl and we got through the security checks safely.Unfortunately things were about to change. London Heathrow had implemented a new system, which resulted in 60 000 lost bags. Plan A suggested that we fly to London Heathrow, transfer to another airplane and travel to Cape Town. Due to the little accident at the Island we were delayed and we had to travel via Johannesburg as well.

Cape Town, our final destination, almost 40 degrees, bright sun, white skin began to tint, beautiful girls and cricket; we were in paradise. Our first night we were to stay at a resort called Mineral Springs. Mineral Springs was like a little peace of Heaven. There were few cosy houses with a breathtaking view; mountains in the background, green fields and grapes and melons all over the place. This first day in Cape Town we relaxed, enjoyed the sun, cooled down in a small lake; simply a good opportunity to acclimatize.

Next day we got our breakfast in Franschehoek, where I ate my very first 'fried' french toast. I must say that it isn't bad at all but I still prefer the good old baked french toast version.
In the afternoon we would play the Hoer Skool in Paarl. It was widely known that the were 'pretty skilled'. So with sweaty palms and scared looks on our faces, we approached our opponants. We soon noticed that that the rumours weren't true ( either that that or we're just really good), and we had a chance of winning the game. Unfortunately we lost by a couple of runs.
That night we were given some more time to relax and enjoy some meat from a bra ( for the dirty minded teenagers: a bra is a babecue).

Saturday. A team, composed of poor Africans from townships like Nguaya, had been travelling since 5 o'clock in the morning to play a team from another continent. They told us thay had been looking forward to this match for weeks. and that the felt honoured to play a foreign team. I actually reckon it was us who should feel honoured.This was probalby one of the nicest games I've ever played, not because it was so thrilling, but because of the warm ambiance in the field. These guys were cool to play with and really funny suprisingly. These were some of their statements and 'encouragements' while fielding: 'Mistah Batsman wants to drive, but he has no license', and ' This guy must be a vegatarian, 'cause he can't find the meat!' Mind you, this is only humourous when you understand the wonderful game of cricket. This was one of those games where the result didn't matter, just the pure joy of the marvellous sport. (For the ones who are intersted, we did actually win).

Sunday. Today the Cobras were playing the Eagles. Two professional cricket teams would bowl their arms off, but until blisters appeared on their hands and chase the ball like there is no tomorrow. Big cricket players were present; Gibbes, Telemachus, Kemp etc. It was a beautiful day with a steel blue sky, the smell of freshly mowed grass, and a fierce sun; a perfect day destined for cricket.
During the match everyone was pumped, the atmosphere was tense, there were hotdogs and candy stands, a device that measured your bowling speed, biltong ( a deliriously delicious peace of tasteful dried meat, love it), a 'hit-the-wicket-competition and you could get a reward by catching a six. unfortunately no one succeeded in the latter.
That night we woud be sleeping in a game park. We were about to experience the true South Africa. A home for elephants, zebras, elands, snakes and wildebeesten. We expected to come so close to mother nature that we could pratically smell the ostiridges eggs and feel the warm breeze of a lions breath. However, it was quiet the opposite. There were luxurious tents with soft beds, a toilet and a shower, which actually was a relief for some of us I believe.
Our coaches told us to wake up at 5 am to go on safari. Most of us were too lazy and tired to wake up; we just couldn't be bothered. A couple of eager boys got up and discovered that it was a lie. The safari was 'postponed' to 10 o'clock. Jolly jokers, those coaches.
The safari was fun though; we spotted blue wildebeesten (those beasts form the Lion King), elands, zebras, ostridges, world's smallest turtle (very cute) and some ants. Did you know that there are over 12 000 species of ants!?!
We wanted to invlove charity in our tour as well, and therefore, today was charity day. First we were off to Immanuel's Haven in the Strand; a married couple chose to spend their life to help children who were abandoned by their parents. It is nice to see that some people on this earth not only care about themselves, but also about others. These people sacrifice their lives in order to save other people's lives. At Immanuel's Haven they try to give these children what they deserve; education, health care and a safe home. To help them on their way we raised 2000 euro.
Our charity day was not finished yet, it had just begun. In the afternoon we were to give a cricket clinic to a school for children from townships or poor neigbourhoods. On the field they had set up a stage with a dj. Everyone gathered there, we were introduced and a spokesman from a drug rehabilitation center was invited to provide info about drugs and rehab. From what this man was saying and from the children's responses I concluded that South Africa still had a lot to learn. Believe me, it really is a developing country.We were told that the coaches would give the clinics instead of us, and that we were going to play an unexpected short match against the school's U-15 team.
I didn't play this game so I had a chance to talk to the African students. Most of the conversations started with a 'controversial' question like: ' Do you smoke weed like really often?' My first thoughts of them were therefore that they hadn't thought about their future at all, but my thoughts turned out to be false. Most of them wanted to go to university and knew exactly what they wanted to do in the future. They pretty much had it all figured out. (By the way, we won).

The following three days (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) we played three matches. the first one was against Rondebosch High School. Our bowlers did well, ourfielders did better and batsmen failed miserably. Yes, We lost. Two girls from my school were also in south africa on exchange, so they came to support us. This did not help a lot unfortunatly.
The second one was against Paul Ross Gymnaium. This team was by far the best team we played on the tour. They were better in almost every aspect.. Let's just say that we got rinced. The third and final one was against Chesterhouse. I'll keep it short; We won.
These three nights we were hosted by the opponants. We saw that the differences between white and black were massive. Some of our hosts had huge houses with swimmingpools, gigantic plasma screens, golden king size beds, private jumbo jets, silver bathrooms, platinum cutlery decorated with diamonds and at least twenty servants. We enjoyed our stay there A LOT!

On Friday we visited Robben Island, where the prison stands that imprisoned Nelson Mandela for a long time. Very interesting. And guess what, we saw a snake! A 'black-and-dangerous' molesnake!
After this cultural activity we hiked up the Table Mountain. This mission was extremely exhilerating. Sweat was flowing, fat burned, muscles contracted and relaxed; our bodies were working hard. At the top, our intense labour was rewarded. A rememberable view greeted us and so did a glass of cold Lipton Ice-Tea. We had accomplished our goal and conquered.
The Table Mountain. Lightbeams entered our room and the last day in Cape Town began. Beach Day. Hot bitches, uh...I mean warm beaches, clear blue sky and a refreshing ocean. In the end the ocean was just a bit too refreshing. water was so cold that you lost feeling after a couple minutes in the water. We played beach cricket, played some rugby, relaxed, bought ice cream and relaxed some more.
A succesful last day and a great way to end a tour that will never be fogotten.

LEKKER SON, LEKKER KRIEKET SPIEL!