SOUTH AFRICAN EXCHANGE: ST STITHIAN’S JOHANNESBURG (2023)

Early in the morning on January 11th we made the long drive to Dublin airport with a car packed full to the brim of suitcases. Olly Riley and I were on different flights which meant we arrived at Tambo International Airport at different times.

We then met our host and his driver at arrivals and drove directly to St Stithians. We arrived at the Higher Ground restaurant which looks over the school campus for a bite to eat before heading to the grass nets for training.

We also met the team & coaches and got our first look at the impressive facilities. We trained for an hour in the intense heat and got to grips with the unfamiliar conditions. Our hosts are based at Canyon Golf Estate in Roodepoort and we settled in very quickly.

On a typical day, we get up at 6.30am to go to the gym. After that, we hit some balls at home in the nets before going to school. It’s really interesting to see how the classes work and to learn some new subjects including Afrikaans. We get a hot lunch at school before the last class of the day. We finish at 2.30pm and go straight to the nets for school training. That lasts from 3 until 4.30pm. We train on quality grass wickets and it’s great to be able to train at such excellent facilities.

After our first matches against Grey, Reuben and I (with our host parents and Reuben’s Dad) went to a game reserve situated three hours from Johannesburg. We saw some rhinos, plenty of zebra and some giraffe. We were then treated to some delicious local food before a game drive in the evening. 

On the second day we saw some of the most incredible things including ‘The Big 5’ - elephant, lion, leopard, rhino and giraffe all in the same day. It was a brilliant experience.

The SA20 is a new South African T20 franchise league that has taken place over the past 6 weeks. On 24th January last, we accompanied our host family to see Pretoria ‘Capitals’ play  against Joburg ‘Super Kings’.

The Head Coach of Pretoria Capitals is former Ireland Head Coach (Graham Ford) so it was great to meet up with Graham after his team won the game. Graham invited us to train with the Capitals at their home ground (Centurion). 

We trained with them twice on the 30th and 31st January. Olly and I both loved bowling to them and learnt a thing or two from some professional players. We also had some time to ourselves at the ground where we walked around to experience the same things as some of the best cricketers in the world.

We have both been playing for the St Stithian’s First XI. I've had the privilege of wearing their white cap and playing in their magnificent hone ground facilities I played my first game against Grey College from Bloemfontein in a T20 followed by a 50 over game the next day. 

I’ve settled in well with the team & coaches and really enjoy being able to represent the school. I played my most enjoyable match at home against Jeppe High School. We batted first and posted a total we thought was under par, but still defendable.

I opened the bowling and took our second wicket of the innings in the fourth over of the game putting Jeppe under pressure. We had control of the game for the most part until a late fight back from Jeppe left the game in the balance before we snatched a close win. I finished with figures of 3/28 in my 10 overs. I’ve also travelled with our first team to away games and played in some lovely grounds which I also really enjoyed.

Olly has been playing for the 2nd XI during his time at St Stithians. On the first weekend, the school played against Grey Bloemfontein in a T20 fixture when Olly took 2 wickets for not many runs. On the Sunday, the school played a 50 over match when Olly took 3 wickets (including 2 broken bails). It was nice to get two wins from the first two games. 

It’s been a great experience playing in different conditions and adjusting to them. We’ve both settled in well with the coaches and the team - all very welcoming. 

In the early hours of Friday morning (3rd February), we took a two-hour flight to Cape Town followed by a bus to Rondebosch.

Our first XI bowled first against the incredible back-drop of Table Mountain. We struggled to get an early wicket but controlled the run rate.

Rondebosch set us a target of 200 to win in our 40 overs. We ended up falling just short of our target. The second team also lost their first game by 146 runs. A disappointing start to the tour. 

Our 2XI bowled first against SACS on the second day. We got off to a flying start with Olly taking 4 wickets in his first spell and finishing with the impressive figures of 5/12. 

We appeared to be cruising it at 76/4 in reply but after the departure of our 5th wicket we tumbled from 76/4 to 84 all out.

The first XI won their second game by 70 runs after bowling SACS out for just 60 runs.

The first XI bowled first at the Kallis Oval against Wynberg for our last game of the tour and got off to a great start with Reuben taking two early wickets including their best batsmen.

Wynberg fought back well with two players passing 50, enabling them to set a target of 216 to win. A good start set us on our way but a few wickets left the game in the balance. A couple late boundaries left us with 22 to win off the last over and a valiant effort left us 6 off the last ball but unfortunately, we couldn’t get it and lost by 5 runs. A very tense finish to an amazing tour to the Western Cape. 

Our thanks to St Stithian’s, our college friends, our hosts and Cricket Leinster for giving us this brilliant cricket opportunity and life experience.

Olly Riley 
Gonzaga College

Reuben Wilson
King’s Hospital School