Day 4 Mochudi/Tlhakame

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Thursday 22nd October

Will spoke too soon yesterday as doggies’ bits were back on the menu this morning but it was not from the blimming dog next door as he barked all night!!!

Surprisingly, Godfrey, our combi driver, was bang on time this morning, trying to redeem himself from yesterday’s extra long detour??? No such luck. Innocent as we are, we were all hopeful we could start the day on time. Little had we anticipated that Godfrey’s priorities were his own personal errands rather than ours as he drove us to the local “Advertiser” to place an ad to sell his car. We all sat in the increasingly hot combi waiting for him. After 15 minutes, we finally were off. At Mochudi, we dropped Mike and Veronika to purchase our most needed water supply and headed off to Lady Mitchison. Will asked Godfrey to “Go as fast as you can” which he took quite literally, overtaking from the inside, driving on the pavement, almost taking off as we hurdled the speed bumps, hanging on to dear life.

We managed to make it to Lady Mitchison in one piece and started our final coaching session “wicket keeping”. Straight after the game, Mavis was the first victim to be assessed and one of our first teachers to pass.

After lunch, we dropped Mike, Allan, Will and Tony to Ramogotsi Primary School and headed off to Tlhakame Primary School at the end of a very long and bumpy dirt road.

Once again, we were made very welcome by the staff and the children. It has been overwhelming to see how extremely polite, well behaved and respectful the children are here. They are unbelievably keen and so receptive. Despite the limited time we had with them, they absorbed every little coaching point.

Africa is the land of rhythm, so much so that our teachers have incorporated it to cricket. As we speak, our current and ever growing repertoire includes the “Elvis double arm swing” for bowling, the “shaking that ass” for wicket keeping, “Let’s do the twist” for close catches and “Rock and shimmy forward” for the front foot drive. Nobody has come up with a move for the pull shot yet but stay tuned and I’m sure it will come next week. We are hoping that by the end of our stay we will be able to produce and perform the new craze “The Botswana Jive”. Confident in our success, we will be touring the UK in particular at all ECB’s coaching courses.


Veronique

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Photos

Wicket Keeping Practice
One last skill to be learnt

Mavis at the crease
Mavis bats nervously before.......

First Success
.......becoming the first coach to pass the assessment

Focus !
One of the girls at Tlhakame keeps her eyes on the ball