Page 23 - Demo

A WANDERERS VIEW
James Boshell - Cape Town
left England in 1968 and emigrated to South Africa in 1970. I played regularly for Western Province CC [WPCC] from 1973 until I nally
hung up my worn, old and weathered boots in 2018.
Don Goodson, a long time XL Club member, ex-Leicestershire 1950-53, invited me to join the XL Club some 25 odd years ago. We had been playing regularly together for one of the social teams run by WPCC in Cape Town and we had been opening the bowling together since the early 1970’s after
he had moved down from playing serious league cricket rst in the old Transvaal and subsequently in the Western Cape.
During those 45 years as an active player I
played many, many games against the visiting
XL Club [more than I can count but to my regret never actually managed to play for the Club itself although I have substituted as a elder for them on many di erent occasions. Whatever the situation
- whether I dropped catches or let the ball through to the boundary! – I was always fully accepted as ‘one of ours’.
During that time I have met and shared many cold beverages with these wonderful gentlemen and made many longstanding friends, in particular Barry Aitken who I have known for many years and we have always managed to get together when he is out here in Cape Town. Incidentally I met up with another UK XL Member just last night at the WPCC bar....Nigel Keess.
Being a member of the XL Club [in exile] is an honour as I understand that there are only a few mem- bers left in SA. Cricket in SA at the moment is still in virtual lockdown with only a few matches being played and most, if not all, of the overseas visiting teams have can- celled their trips.
It is naturally these overseas teams who bring new [and old!] visitors into the local cricket circles who would engender an interest in the
I
Table Mountain
possibility of bringing new XL Members into the ‘Overseas Fold’...but until the world has seen the end of this hideous virus, I cannot see this happen- ing anytime soon.
As to the viability of having overseas members, this is a tricky question. It would be wonderful to have
a squad of 20 or so South African XL Club members actively engaged and playing in the local friendly leagues but it would be premature at this stage to even imagine such a scenario. The wonderful game of cricket has been decimated all over the world and perhaps this would be something to consider a couple of years hence?
We desperately need these visits and it is always an exciting day when we have a xture against an ‘Overseas side’, always lled with like-minded and wonderful players. I would so encourage any cricketer to join the XL Club and join their overseas tours – especially if they can visit our beautiful country and particularly Cape Town; in my humble opinion the nest city in the world that o ers so very much for all.
Looking forward to catching up with you and the ‘Lads’ and naturally I will be the rst to buy you a pint of our nest Castle Lager on your next visit hopefully sooner rather than later.
The Forty Club 2021 Yearbook
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