Somerset youngsters find it tough going in South Africa

The Somerset Under 13 party who left Taunton for the sunshine last Friday reached their destination in South Africa safely where they were warmly welcomed by their hosts.

After two days spent sightseeing the St Stithians Festival got underway and the tourists have played their first two matches, which they found tough going.

Pete Sanderson, the team coach told me: "Day one of the festival saw beautiful weather and temperatures of 35 degrees. The first day was scheduled to be a 35 over match but got reduced because of the late arrival of the British Commissioner!"

He continued: "Somerset won the toss and batted first and after a poor start with the early losses of Matthew Green and Callum Haggett, the team recovered well with two partnerships both of which included Alex Field. He was accompanied by Jos Butler and Sam Dewes to take the side to 94 for 4 after 21 overs. Sadly when top scorer Field was out for 39 playing a rash shot, only 27 were scored from the last 9 overs."

At the close of the innings Somerset had reached 126 for 9 wickets.

The Somerset coach went on: "When K.E.P.S. batted our bowling looked rusty throughout even though this was backed by a good fielding performance. Unfortunately all bowlers bowled too many bad balls as they struggled for rhythm after being back on grass for the first time in seven months. This was exploited by two efficient looking batsman, one who batted through the innings to finish with 72 not out as they passed the Somerset total for the loss of four wickets."

Reflecting on the opening match of the tour the coach said: "Hopefully lessons will be learnt in the rest of the week as performances like this with a couple of matches under their belts would not be acceptable by the standards set by Somerset Young Cricketers."

In their second match against the Sowaton Development team, the tourists suffered another defeat at the end of which the coach told me: "This was a very disappointing day for Somerset and there was a lack of players willing to stand up and be counted."

He continued: " The Sowaton Development team, more commonly know as the Loins, batted first on a glorious looking day and on a very good pitch. A good start was required by our bowlers but unfortunately that was not forthcoming and far too many extras were conceded with wides and no balls the main contributor to the 76 extras we gave away. The Loins raced to 62 off 10, but then there was some control exerted by the spinners the best of which was Alex Thomson who finished with figures of 2 for 18 in 10 overs. In the end keeping them down to 226 for 4 was a good effort but the earlier damage left its mark."

He continued: "In reply Somerset also started well with positive batting from Matthew Green, Will Robinson and the top scorer James Kohn (33). This put the team in a good position at the break on 79-1 off 21 overs. Unfortunately the break favoured the Loins with a collapse just around the corner as we lost 9 wickets for only 47 runs to eventually be bowled out for 126 with 7 overs remaining. Our batters did not cope well with the pressure created and there were too many shots played with a very high risk level."

Reflecting on the game overall Pete Sanderson said: "They were a very accomplished team and we can learn a lot of lessons particularly in the way they ran their singles and didn't just look for the big shots which resulted in so many of our downfalls. They also had the ability to get the field in the right place and then bowl to it."