We are now six weeks into our stay here at Muir College, how time has flown by! It seems like only yesterday that we were stepping off the plane to be greeted by this blinding ball of heat that it felt like we were seeing for the first time after a months bitter weather in Ireland.

As the weeks go on we are adapting to the conditions better on the cricket pitch. Opening the batting is quite hard over here in South Africa as the ball swings and seams early on. I seem to be getting used to this and have been making a start every match, but I keep falling unluckily after that. On the 19^th of February we had a match against a very strong Kingswood team. Myself and the other opener both had good starts and put 30 on the board before poor shot selection on his behalf lead to his downfall. Then poor calling on our number 3's behalf resulted in me being run out and those two cheap wickets gave Kingswood the breakthrough and we crumbled, all out for 93. Kingswood chased this easily for two wickets.

On Sunday, Mr.Whal and his family again brought us out, this time to the scenic Van Stadens, a beautiful river where we spent the day relaxing, playing games and enjoying a traditional South African braai.

The next week was very mixed weather wise, the humidity was almost unbearable during the day and then almost every night there had been spectacular thunderstorms. On Friday we went to the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Port Elizabeth to watch the EP Kings (local rugby franchise) take on Namibia. EP Kings thrashed them and the match was even blown up a few minutes early!

Then Saturday we had another home match, this time against Port Alfred's 1st XI. Again I started very well and got to 26 before once again falling LBW to a suspect decision by the umpire after he seems to be pressurised into giving me out by the bowler! Andrew Mowatt then game in at number five and took advantage of being given a few chances early and went on to make a very quick-fire 65, and the team raced to 292 off our 50 overs. As we went out to field I got to experience something you do not get the chance to experience as a minor in Irish cricket - fielding at short leg. It was exciting throughout but scary at times when a leggy struggled to find his length for an over or two but after taking a few blows I was happy enough with how I completed the task. I took two catches in there! We then rolled them quickly enough for just over 100 to finish a good days work.

So just two weeks left, which I find hard to believe! Unfortunately Andrew and myself are feeling a bit under the weather at the moment but we should be fine again in a few days so we can get back to enjoying our last 14 days. Last update in two weeks, until then.

Niall McGovern