Yesterday the Ulster Grasshoppers departed Dublin for Cape Town in what will be their first major tour in over a decade and the 6th time the Grasshoppers have toured South Africa.
The 33-strong touring party consists of players, partners and families who will enjoy a mixture of activities alongside the tour games. After the initial travel, the tour officially kicks off with 2 days in the Members’ Pavilion at Newlands for the South Africa v India Test Series followed by the first 2 tour games against Groot Drakenstein Games Club on Saturday and Western Province CC on Sunday.
The next few days will consist of golf, wine tasting, a visit to the township and a tour of the Cape Winelands. Match 3 will be against Durbanville CC, followed by a tour of Chapman’s Peak, Cape Point, and Boulders Beach, finishing with a day at Aquila Private Game Reserve and for the braver tourists, shark cage diving. The last few days of the tour will consist of 2 games against Scorpions CC in Stellenbosch and Claremont CC in Constantia before the tourists embark on their journey home on the 16th.
Lisburn’s Glenn Halliday will captain the Ulster Grasshoppers on the tour,
“We’re all looking forward to what should be a fantastic trip with a great mix of competitive cricket at some excellent grounds, whilst also getting to experience a number of the major tourist and social attractions the country has to offer, including a couple of days at the SA v India Test Match at Newlands.
Whilst we have had several smaller tours in recent years (Malta in 2017 and La Manga in 2023) this will mark the Ulster Grasshoppers’ first major tour in over a decade and we’re delighted to have assembled such a strong squad divided up across many different teams within the NCU.
As with any Grasshoppers tour, I’m sure there will be many new friendships created over a beer or two, and it provides a unique opportunity to share a dressing room with those who you have competed against for the majority of your cricketing career. Importantly the tour will also provide the younger players in the squad with exposure to overseas conditions against good-quality opposition to hopefully help progress their game.
Big thanks must go to Alan Waite and Neil Watson for making this trip happen and putting together a superb itinerary.”
The touring squad is as follows:
Glenn Halliday (C)
Alistair Shields
Ross Waite
Jack Beattie
Callum Atkinson
Peter Davison
Richard Simpson
Matthew Daly
Seby Best
Jonathan Waite
Matthew McCord
James Cameron-Dow
Aaron Wright
Alan Waite
Michael Ross