Warwickshire's victorious U19 team returned home today after their victorious trip to Cape Town where despite losing their pre- tournament friendly they then went unbeaten for the 5 main matches defeating Wellington (NZ) in the final.

Tour Manager and Director of Cricket (WCB) commented "Albeit we had a rude awakening at the start of the trip every girl has played their part in the success that followed. I would like to thank Errol Simms and Kelly Evenson for their unstinting coaching efforts as well as our busy physio Jenna Mantripp. The girls will now go full steam in to the season brimming with confidence for the ECB competitions that lie ahead"

The tour was successful both on and off the field as all the girls took part in township coaching / leadership projects / visits to Langa as well as working on their own game constantly throughout the trip.

DAY 8
The Final game between Warwickshire and Wellington began with a bumper crowd of locals as well as parents and relatives of both teams.

Warwickshire once again batted first scoring 156-9 with Shipman 44 Watson 34 and Crofts 27 the mainstays of the innings. In reply Wellington were 69 all out as Warwickshire won the International Teams trophy by 88 runs Watson again picking up 5-18 off 10 overs.

Indeed it was the conclusion of a long hard Winter for the girls and the coaches alike. Many of the girls have trained late into the night on Wednesdays and then started at 730am on Sunday mornings in the lead up to this tournament.

The planning and coaching programmes have begun to bear fruit as firstly the 4 Emerging Players overseen by Kelly Evenson and Steve Perryman have all found success on the trip whilst the remainder have benefited from hours and hours of work under the tutelage of Mark Evenson, Errol Simms and Steve Rouse in the Under 17 sessions.

These were topped off by further input on Sundays from Chris Armstrong (Fitness and Conditioning) and Physio Jenna Mantripp and specialist 1-1 sessions from the Development Team to make this possible. They should all take great pride from the successes of this trip and look forward to a Summer in which many players will commence with great confidence.

Warwickshire champions again !!!!!

DAY 7

Following a half day off Warwickshire returned to action in the semi final game v Boland.

Boland have progressed well over the week and were quickly in to their stride as Crofts was out LBW to the lively left armer Daniels for 2. Jones joined Shipman for 10 overs to take the score to 43 before she was out caught behind. Watson followed after 3 lusty boundaries and with the score at 63-3 Warwickshires innings was in the balance as Boland tightened the screw with their accurate medium pacers.

On a slow low surface and thick grassy outfield boundaries were hard to come by. Soon after the score became 70-5 as first Shipman was out LBW to one that crept along the surface quickly followed by Smart who chipped to mid wicket. Grundy and Weller steadied the ship but Maxwell and Weller began to move things forward with a 50 run partnership in even time before Weller played on for 22 whilst Maxwell finished on 32 caught in the deep as the final WCB score closed at 157-9   off 50 overs.

Bolands reply was studious with good running between the wickets in the early overs. However the bold intoduction of spin twins Maxwell and Watson broke the deadlock at 22-1 in the 10th over with the field restricttions still in place. Watson picked up all 4 early  wickets to reduce Boland to 29-3 in the 14th and 41-5 in the 25th with Maxwell tieing up the other end.

However a beligerent Boland side hung in there as Warwickshire toiled in trying to remove the late order. Bramley picked up 2 more at the end in tandem with Matthews as Boland eventually closed at 102 all out Warwickshire winning by 56 runs to reach the final against Wellington (NZ)

In the other final day matches the following matches will take place

Lancs v WP and
Boland v SWD

This will be Warwickshires second appearance in the final having defeated Western Province in 2006. Wellington will be a tough nut to crack as they have had a number of close games and come through them all with steel and determination.

DAY SIX

Warwickshires next opposition Western Province had previously given Wellington (U19) a close game in the preceeding round of matches but Warwickshire once again batted first and put on 81-0 in the first 15 overs whilst the fielding restrictions were in place with Shipman and Crofts running well between the wickets in a reduced overs game (40 overs)

The significant improvement in the batting came as a result of an 8am session preceding the game and seemed to have clicked a few things in to place as the girls worked hard in a middle practice to find new methods of combating the cape conditions.

Shipman 93no and Crofts 69 were the mainstays of the innings as WCB racked by 211-2 in the 40 overs. Grundy quicky removed the openers to leave them 4-2 in the 5th over and soon after that became 15-6 as the spinner Green (3 wkts) and Bramley (2) tore through the middle order. WP ended up 26 all out thanks to 3 catches from Smart behind the stumps as WCB strolled home winners by 189 runs. Wellington lost in a nailbiter to Boland and Lancs eased past SWD by 4 wickets chasing 109.

The group games are now complete with the log as follows

1 Warwickshire
2 Lancashire
3 Wellington
4 Boland
5 WP
6 SWD

Friday sees Warwickshire play Boland for a place in the final whilst Lancs play Wellington as WP v SWD is a wooden spoon game.

Warwickshire will need to be at their best on Friday as Boland have improved immensely as the week has progressed.

Finally the girls get a day to take in some African culture on Thurs with a visit to the Langa township and the coaching "home" of the late Bob Woolmer followed by an afternoon practice in readiness for the semi final.

DAY FOUR

Warwickshires Under 19 girls embarked on their coaching mission at the start of Day 4 of their trip to enhance all aspects of Cricket. 30 youngsters of Black, Cape Malay and White underpriveliged backgrounds turned up for a 2 hour session conducted by the Qualified ECB Level 1 coaches ably assisted by keen team mates. Starting with a warm up and 3 drills sessions the morning was concluded with a game topped off by some memorable photo opportunities of some childrens lives that suddenly just got better.

All the Warwickshire girls are to be congratulated for their efforts in planning and delivering the session so well. Each "coach" was also mentored by the Management team as the morning went on in how to improve their organisation and delivery which will stand them in good stead when they return to the UK.

 The afternoon was their first break from Cricket and a chance to look round Cape Town including a trip to Table Mountain and the Cape of Good Hope.

Game 3 dawned with new opposition in the form of South Western Country Districts from 12 hours up the coast based at Oudtschorn. Warwickshire batted first again with Shipman bowled off her pads in the first over it was backs to the wall for Warwickshire against a lively opening attack and 3 accurate spinners on a surface which was slow and low

Warwickshire amassed 155 in the 50 overs thanks to a watchful 31 from Weller and some support roles from Smart 19 Crofts 18 and Grundy 16.  It was a working total in the circumstances as Petersen 4-25 kept WCB in check.

SWD started quietly but then blossomed to 41-2 in the 23rd over where they were blown away by the accuracy and turn of off spinner Watson (7-15) off 9 overs including 3 in 4 balls. Crofts and Green  finished them off in succesive overs as a ruthless Warwickshire won by 103 runs bowling them out for 52.

Warwickshires final group game starts Wednesday vs Western Province. In the other games Lancashire defeated Boland whilst Wellington (NZ) crept past Western Province.


DAY THREE

Day 3 began with an early start and an 815 practice. Batting first against a strong Boland side with 3 SA players. Shipman started slowly and sketchily before blossoming to score a chancless 82 in 40 overs and held the innings together beautifully.

Various support came from Jones (25) Watson (28) Maxwell and Crofts (16) as Warwickshire were bowled out for 211 in 49.4 overs.

Bolands reply stuttered early on as Grundy removed the openers and was quickly backed up with two wickets each from Russell and Maxwell with others chipping in they were bowled out for 93 - Warwickshire winning by 118 runs. In the other matches Lancashire and Wellington defeated SWD and Western Province convincingly

DAY TWO

Day 2 broke with the squad full of expectation having worked hard for a number of months but facing a Combined WP-Boland XI proved extremely tough so early in the trip as we were beaten by 10 wickets having made only 149-9 in our 40 overs at the Bishops College Sahara Oval Ground.

Admittedly the blistering heat had much to do with the players well being as temperatures topped 34 degrees but nonetheless the strength and power of the opposition was too much for this Warwickshire outfit. Watched by an army of parents and WCCC Groundsman Steve Rouse play commenced at 930am.

Batting first Shipman (10) and Crofts (41) made a steady start followed by Smart (43) but thereafter the middle order failed to deal with accuracy of the spinners and the innings petered out despite some lively showings from Russell and Gough at the end of the innings

The Combined XI were initially pegged back by Grundy and Crofts and despite some close early LBW shouts we failed to make an early breakthrough. Shipman continued to change the bowling at regular intervals but some lusty blows from Anderson (89) proved the difference between the two teams.

Day 3 sees the girls embark on some community work as they welcome 30 township girls to a coaching session for a few hours. A project which they have developed and designed themselves with the WCB Management team to "give something back" to the game. All 14 girls will be coaching and helping out the youngsters followed by 3 mini-matches in the afternoon where they will umpire/score and provide on-field coaching giving the youngsters the experience of a lifetime.

This whole 10 day programme is about development and learning as opposed to winning and today will be the cornerstone of that process
DAY ONE

After travelling 14 hours the first days practice was a tough one for a number of players in the wind and mild weather of the Cape.

Starting at Western Province CC the team were able to get in 90 mins fielding and then an hours net session on the Gary Kirsten Oval before transferring to Bishops School in the afternoon for a Centre Wicket session to get used to the host venue for the forthcoming matches.

Today sees the squad play its first practice game against a northern cape town district side at the Sahara Oval where all 14 players will get the chance to play a part in the game. All the opposition sides have now arrived with Wellington from NZ already picking up 2 injuries from a gruelling practice session yesterday.

Lancashire arrived last night and begin their sessions today buoyed by the presence of England Academy opening bowler Katy Cross.