The final2nights were spentin London where the team was introduced to the K.C.O.B. Club in London and many a treasured memory and tradition were exchanged between the 2parties. I would like to thank Kevin Smith for organising the tour,T.Richterfor accompanying us and the parents for their support. For full match results consult the First XI report. DM.SUDDING WHATA HOLIDAY! Fergus Pringle came to Kearsney in Form 1 in 1990.He played cricket and rugby for the under 13A, 14A and under 15A teams.In 1994 he was in both the first team rugby and cricket squads.The cricket team toured Eng land in the first half of July and the Rugby team toured Zimbabwe in the second halfofJuly. Because he wasin Standard 9, his parents let him go on both tours. He played six cricket matches and five rugby matches in four weeks. Whatfollows is Fergus'description of this wonderful experience. Asthe end ofanother tough and strenuous term arrived, everyone was getting ready for a long relaxing holiday. Thetime had cometojustputtheirfeet upforfour weeks and get prepared for the second halfofthe year. But,for the 14 members of the 1st team cricket squad, it was totally different. Filled with excitement and anxiety, we were gearing up for a two week tour ofthe U.K. We departed on the same day that we broke up,and af ter much preparation,we were relieved to be on our way. Everyone was full of excitement and focused on the magical 2 weeks which lay ahead. In the back of my mind, I had more than just the following two weeks. The day that I was to return to Jan Smuts,I had to be prepared to depart on a tough rugby tour ofZimbabwe. But,I was confident that everything would go fine and that it wouldn't be a problem.I had pictured a relaxing cricket tour and a reasonably tough rugby tour against average opposition. How wrong I was proved to be! We slept very little for the nexttwo days as we travelled via Rome to London. We had an incredible experience travelling around London on our way to the hotel. The huge old-fashioned buildings with hundreds of tiny lit tle shopsjammed in between them.We wereshown many famous and beautiful sights but the guys were thinking more about sleep and food than anything else and not much attention was paid.After thisjourney and the long drive down to the South ofEngland,I realized how tir ing this tour was going to be. For the rest of the tour, we got into a tough and tiring routine. Besides playing full day cricket matches, we travelled very long distances from place to place.Every free day was spent travelling to the next venue. As noone could really sleep on the coach, we got very tired from the travelling. While travelling, we usually spent a few hours at some ofthe towns we passed. We spent an afternoon roaming the town of Oxford,and another we spent the morning in Cambridge. These towns were really fascinating and the scenery was incredibly beau tiful. In the many places we stopped the atmosphere al ways seemed to be so relaxed and friendly and there was a holiday atmosphere.Every place we went to was a new experience for us and yielded something interest ing to us naive South Africans. The schools that we visited were all private schools and the grounds were,withoutexception,most beautiful and picturesque. Many of the schools had buildings dating back to the I500's and they were all in excellent condi tion. One school we stayed at was situated on a farm and the cricketfield was situated in a little dip with open paddocks on either side. Another school was situated in a tiny town called Sherbourne and the school buildings were scattered throughout the town. By the end of the tour, when we arrived in London, everyone wasextremely tired after 10full daysofcricket and plenty oftravelling.The late nights had also started to take a toll. So did the compulsory runs enforced by the coach.The last 2days in London we all got next to no sleep.Travelling around the underground,doing shop ping and sightseeing made us even more tired. We boarded the plane very tired and in need of a rest, but the next 24 hours in the plane were very uncomfortable and when we stepped off the plane at Jan Smuts,all the guys were relieved.Eor me it was a different story.I had 2hours at the airport to prepare for the rugby tour. It was2hours later on that Sunday morning when the 2 minibuses arrived at the airport.AsI walked to the mini buses and looked inside, I could not believe how keen and enthusiastic everyone was.The guys were all smil ing and feeling fresh. At the time I had thought that the aeroplane trip was uncomfortable.When we started trav elling in the minibus,Irealized whatuncomfortable was. That day, we travelled 6 hours from the airport to the Zimbabwe border. It didn't end up being that bad as I had lots to say and was enthusiastic about what lay ahead. After travelling to the first school I realized how much travelling we were going to be doing.We had5 matches to play in two weeks, and there was lots of travelling planned in between. While travelling it seemed that we were in the middle of nowhere. There was bush on either side everywhere we went.We tried to sleep in the minibus but ended up lying all over each other and get ting very little sleep.The extreme heatadded to the long distance made it hard for us to keep our heads for the next two weeks. We had an unsuccessful start to the rugby matches when we narrowly lost our first game. It was a very average performance by us and we were disappointed. The rest of the rugby tour would prove to be very demanding. Besides our performance not being up to standard, our opponents surprised us with their raw aggression and old-fashioned, simple type of play. By the third match, the team was struggling to keep things together.Ifound it physically difficult to keep on going. Although I was fit,I battled to get myselfgoing in practice and withfew team members uninjured and the unfamiliar conditions, it was made even harder. The second game was played on a field with more devil thorns on it than grass and was honestly harder than any cricket pitch at Kearsney. Wespenta weekend halfway through the tour atthe beau tiful Victoria Falls. For a while we forgot about all the rugby and travelling and we relaxed and enjoyed our selves. We spent a day white water rafting on the Zam bezi but on the Sunday there were a few guys feeling very sick,I was one ofthem.This made our long trip the next day even worse.Along with being tired and sick,I think I hit an all time low. I battled to keep going and had to keep pushing myself. 80 Kearsney Chronicle 1994
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