The Reds bat and bat and bat.

A cloudless day greeted the boys at breakfast. Scrambled eggs, tomato and croissants were the lunch ladies' choice and a bit more of a relaxed lead up as the game was at St. Aidan's Oval today, a local St. Andrew's ground. Liam won the toss and liked the look of what he saw. A flat deck, though it had a couple of weeds on a good length and a lightening outfield. The going was a bit slow early but Adam and George got the side off to a solid start before Adam fell for 19. Then Liam joined George for a 123 run partnership to put the Reds in a commanding position by morning tea break. George kicked on with the middle order who provided pleasing support. Some scoring issues saw our total revised down to 306 from 317 - perhaps some home-schooling scoring is in order.

After an ample lunch, Brendan took the new ball but not his spikes. It mattered for little as he took the middle stump of their opener with the first rock of the innings. Just to prove it wasn't a fluke, after a change of shoes during the wicket celebration, he did it again to the No. 3 just 3 balls later with spikes. The skipper then made an M S Dhoni like move (last World Cup vs Sri Lanka) and brought the keeper on to bowl. It took 4 balls to take the wicket of Ben. Oh, did I mention the the coaches swapped a player from each team? African Ben for Aussie Jesse - Ben should be applauded for making Jesse's dream of playing with Australains come true.

At the first drinks break, Albany were on target for a massive run chase and were 4/98. With some words of wisdom from the coaches, the ball was entrusted to the Spin Twins; Thomas and Jez. Each bowled with poise to take 3 wickets for an average of 8 and 9 respectively. The opposition batsmen were overheard saying "I can't believe it spun so much". In the end Barker won by 182 runs but the match was played in a wonderful spirit with parents from the opposition shaking each and every boys' hand. After the match, the team and coaches celebrated by walking to Wimpy and enjoying a milkshake. Dinner and an early night for our last night in the boarding house. Coach Thomlinson was sad - he loved his fluffy pillow and single room privacy.

Tomorrow - sunny Cape Town.


JMT

George gets the first 50 on tour for the younger members of the squad.

Coaches Toth and Thomlinson are overjoyed at the boys scoring 300 for the first time on any South Africa tour.

The Barker boys look to escape the heat of Grahamstown and the Barker batsmen.

Captain Liam notches up his second 50 in as many innings.

Todd offered some solid support in the middle overs.

Brendan after taking a wicket with the first ball of the innings.