“It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” No, I’m not belting out late (or very early?) Christmas hits. April is here, we’re saying goodbye to winter and most importantly, the English cricket season is just days away. From the amateur village player finally getting round to washing his whites from last season to supporters of one of our 18 wonderful counties, the excitement for the upcoming season has well and truly set in.
The 2023/24 winter was one filled with much potential from an England perspective. The ODI World Champions defending their epic 2019 title in India and the unbeaten BazBall putting itself to the test (pun intended) in… India. Unfortunately, to blog about of either of those would be about as fun as listening to Ollie Robinson’s podcast series and would almost certainly kill the aforementioned buzz this time of year brings to cricket fans. So you’re getting another travel blog from my winter excursions instead…
If you read my first travel blog from early 2023, or you have ever had the pleasure of interacting with me for more than 17 seconds, you will be well aware of how much fun I had travelling around South Africa for WT20 World Cup. A truly stunning country and one that I felt an immediate and intense connection to. Following months of deliberating between a return to the rainbow nation or a few weeks following Stokesy and the boys around India a decision was made. The pull of Cape Town was too much. Flights booked, hotels reserved, safaris planned, tickets for a few SA20 games purchased and an incredible bucket list opportunity presenting itself.
It’s almost impossible to sit in the Newlands Cricket Ground and not have the “wow, I’d love to play here” thought run through your head. Spoiler alert – I did not end up playing at the Newlands Cricket Ground – MI Cape Town unfortunately ignored my emails and phone calls. Fortunately the amateur cricket clubs in and around Cape Town were far more responsive. One post on a CT cricket Facebook page asking for playing opportunities and my inbox was filled with message requests inviting me along for a game or two. Thankfully, after a very brief conversation with my now good friend ‘Lampies’, the choice was obvious. I was committed to two games for Gardens Old Boys on the banks of Table Mountain.
Fresh whites, new party shirts and an upgraded set of pads purchased and it was go time. The flight between Heathrow and the southern tip of Africa was as it usually is – long. Watch a couple of films then flick between uncomfortable broken sleep and watching the interactive live map. Perhaps MI Cape Town would have paid for the business class upgrade. There’s always next year.
An early Friday morning arrival left me with two days to enjoy before taking to the field. The SA20 was in full flow at this point and Jos Buttler’s Paarl Royals were the visitors to Newlands on the Friday evening. I would love nothing more than to give expert analysis on the fixture, however a combination of no sleep on the plane, unbearable heat and a day on the finest red wine from Stellenbosch has limited my memory of the match to knowing that MI CT won and Ryan Rickleton put up one outrageous knock in the simple chase. Thankfully there’s worse places to wake up with a hangover and jumping straight on a boat to Robben Island for a wonderful and informative trip cleared the sore head.
Sunday morning provided a different kind of headache. A one full of questions and self doubt. What the hell have I signed myself up for? It’s one million degrees hot and I have absolutely no idea what the quality of club cricket is like here! Nonetheless, I relish the challenge! Quick brekky and an Uber up the base of the mountain to the ground. And what a ground it is. Much like Newlands, photos will not do it justice. Simply stunning.
Introductions to my new teammates and warm ups complete and it was time to make my overseas debut. Not a sentence I ever thought I would write or say. The pre match team chat in the middle, which confusingly moved frequently between Afrikaans and English, resulted in myself opening the batting. This would have been perfect had we not been put in the field following losing the coin toss. Well, I assume we lost the toss – why would you ever choose to not bat first?
Those 35 overs in the field brought up some incredibly conflicting emotions. It was scorching hot, which I’m not accustomed to playing in the North East of England but I was also constantly very aware this is the most beautiful venue I will ever play at. There’s also no venomous snakes in the bushes at grounds in North East England. That may or may not have influenced my decision to ask to field at short cover and short leg for the second half of the innings.
Snakes were the least of my worries as soon as the opposition passed 200 and pushed towards 300. My usual 35.00 strike rate would need a small kick up the arse to say the least. “Don’t overthink it, Dan. Get your pads on, get out there and play every ball on it’s merit.” The same nonsense one repeats to themselves every week without fail which is inevitably ignored. Here we go. The umpire has given the nod for middle stump and it’s right arm over the wicket. One last look at the field and the towering Table Mountain before the first ball. “Lets see what these South African chaps have got?” “It’s not prime Dale Steyn, Dan. You’ve got this!”
I was right, it wasn’t quite Dale Steyn but it was swinging, it was quicker than we get back home and the rock hard pitches had a good length coming up chest height. At least we’re no going out LBW today! Block, leave, swing & miss, quick single was as much as my limited ability could muster in the first 5 overs. Couple wickets falling at the other end meant absolutely no chances being taken against the excellent spell of bowling. Patience paid off like it usually does in this sport. One loose ball pitched a bit too full on leg stump and an on-drive in to the Table Mountain boundary followed. Undoubtedly one of the most special moments I’ve felt playing cricket which was odd given I was on 7 runs off 20 balls when we needed close to 10 an over…
We lost the game comfortably in the end and I only scraped 15 runs (caught at mid off after facing 50 or so deliveries) but the game was played in such a wonderful spirit and facing and facing a great bowling attack on an alien batting surface was an exciting challenge. Yet not quite as big a challenge as the post match “fines”. A Gardens ritual which would require a blog of its own to explain. Lot’s of booze and lots of bizarre rules. The latter I fell foul of and had the former “forced” upon me as a consequence. A tradition I would love to bring north of the equator.
The next week was filled with the typical Cape Town tourist stuff. Safari at Aquila, more SA20 cricket at Newlands, unbelievable restaurants and amazing wine & beer. One of my biggest regrets from my 2023 trip was not climbing Table Mountain. It was quite an underwhelming feeling using the cable car and looking out over the city and Lions Head, which I would have also liked to have climbed on that trip. So naturally it was an immense sense of achievement when I not only climbed Table Mountain on the Friday, but followed it up by climbing Lions Head on the Saturday. I stood at the summit looking around at the city and then the coast at Camps Bay and thought to myself “I have no stone unturned in Cape Town.” The greatest city on the planet and I’d completed everything there I wanted to. I only needed a century in my next game for Gardens to wrap it all up…
Spoiler – I did not get that century.
In fact I couldn’t have been further from a ton. We won the toss and batted (always the correct decision) and I was opening again (maybe not always the correct decision). Not having to worry about the chase and just being to play my way is my ideal scenario. Sadly it only took 3 balls to realise the standard this lot had brought along were far above my pay grade. It did not help that Kelvin Grove’s opening bowler was the spitting double of Kevin Pietersen and it was all I could think of while he was bullying my off stump. 25 ball duck – fine (caught at mid off). I know my limits.
It would be very easy, in a match where the chasing side win the game on the last ball of the game, to blame it on the opening batsman who wasted 25 balls for 0 runs. I certainly would. Thankfully at Gardens Old Boys it is all about enjoying this wonderful sport. After the intense “fines” session (where I fined myself for my poor knock) instead of being ridiculed, I was presented with a club shirt. There’s just nothing like the camaraderie of club cricket – regardless of continent.
The emotions felt saying goodbye to the lads at Gardens on the Sunday were quickly replicated on the Tuesday when I had to say goodbye to Cape Town. Leaving this amazing city will never not be painful. A couple days in Johannesburg was the consolation and a trip to Wanderers for the SA20.
The ground itself is one of the best I have been to. Huge with good views of the action in every stand and the food stalls & bars are everywhere. Missing the views that Newlands provides but a better sporting venue in every other aspect. The game itself was significantly less iconic. The Sunrisers 9 wicket win over the Super Kings doesn’t do the performance justice. It was an annihilation. I did however enjoy the immense SEC bowling performance, the SA cider and the post match steak. A fitting end to an amazing trip.
South Africa will always feel like more than just a “holiday”. Very much a place I have always been made to feel at home.