The 5th World Vintage Cricket Carnival was held in Cape Town between Sunday 21st March and Saturday 27th March, 2010. The 26 teams that took part came from

• Botswana
• Zimbabwe
• Northern Ireland
• England
• Netherlands
• Australia
• New Zealand
• South Africa

In addition assorted players came from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Canada and USA. Over 50 cricket clubs were represented by the close on 400 players who took part.

The twelve host clubs worked extremely hard to ensure a warm welcome, friendly cricket and great hospitality on each of the match days. Visiting teams, players and supporters all agreed that the hospitality was amongst the best experienced at any Carnival and was enjoyed to the maximum at every opportunity.

There were some real highlights of the Carnival and many who attended agreed it was the best Cricket Carnival or Festival yet. The Carnival welcomed a good number of new teams-almost all of whom have committed to continuing the Vintage Cricket development (or decline) at the 6th World Vintage Cricket Carnival to be held in Wellington, New Zealand between Sunday March 18th and Saturday March 24th .

Great memories, great friendships and plenty of good old fashioned exaggeration around the various clubroom bars that the teams frequented.

The Carnival was fortunate to have the services of extremely capable local organiser, Neil Watson who with his colleagues at Western Province Cricket Club ensured that the Opening Function at Newlands Cricket Ground and the closing function at the Western Province Cricket Clubrooms were professionally organised and enjoyed by all who attended. Neil ensured that the host clubs were at their best and fully understood and enjoyed the culture and camaraderie of Vintage Cricket.

Clive van Ryneveld, our Carnival Patron was a gracious and knowledgeable participant in the week’s activities. His recollection of past South African Cricket Test matches was particularly enjoyed by those who were able to meet with him. His opening address set the tone for the Carnival perfectly.

The host clubs who took a full part in the Carnival were superb and not only provided Cape Town hospitality to the full but also provided excellent pitches, facilities, grounds and teams who played in the true Carnival spirit. They were mostly a bit strong for the visiting teams but played in a manner that ensured all players could enjoy their participation on and off the field.







Thanks to:           

• Western Province Cricket Club who fielded two teams -Western Province Cricket Club Chairmans XI and Western Province 3A’s.
• Cape Town Cricket Club
• Gardens Old Boys Cricket Club
• Groot Drakenstein Games Club
• Midmar Golden Bulls
• Elgin Cricket Club
• Scorpions Cricket Club
• Edgemead Cricket Club
• Bellville Cricket Club
• West Coast Rollers
• Claremont Cricket Club
• Visiting teams who enjoyed the hospitality were:
• Stragglers Cricket Club, Zimbabwe
• The Bushmen, Botswana
• Fingletoads, New Zealand
• Fingletoads Internationals, New Zealand, England, Australia, Ireland, USA, Canada, South Africa
• Sussex Goldies, England
• The Forty Club, England
• Worcestershire Seniors, England
• Shropshire Over 50s, England
• Hercules Hellmen, Netherlands
• Ulster Grasshoppers, Northern Ireland
• Western Australia Masters
• Wheatons Golden Oldies, Australia
• Wheatons Vintage Crop, Australia
• Australian Cricket Society

GREAT MEMORIES:

Who can forget the Hercules Hellmen singing “I Just Called to Say I Love You” into their shoe phones.

Ken Connelly, the manager of the Stragglers from Zimbabwe grabbing the guitar and singing more professionally than the entertainer at the Big Day Out at Welbedacht.

Stragglers of Zimbabwe soundly defeating the Fingletoads of New Zealand in a riotous singing contest despite the Fingletoads having welcome assistance from the baritones from Bellville.

Meyrick Pringle hitting 6 sixes in an over for Edgemead against an opposition who asked their bowler and their team name remain confidential.

Dennis Page scoring a very rare Vintage Cricket century for Gardens Old Boys against Ulster Grasshoppers-117 not out of a total of 189 which included 20 extras and in which the next highest score was 11. And it was all in vain as Ulster Grasshoppers cruised to victory.

Visiting teams drinking a toast (quite a strong one) and saluting the Groot Drakenstein flag before taking the field and promptly dropping 4 catches which at least provided an excuse for yet another loss. “We would have won if we could catch the ball” - so would most teams!

Ex-New Zealand International, Ewen Chatfield trundling away for the Internationals-looking and bowling just as he did 30 years or so ago when he used to open the bowling with Sir Richard Hadlee and he would have taken more wickets if people could only catch the ball.

Compulsory Springboks at Scorpions-an interesting and quite potent mixed of Amarula and Creme de Menthe-looked lovely, tasted lovely and were just a little bit intoxicating.

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Thanks to all the team managers, team members, supporters, wives and partners who made sure it was a memorable “celebration of the great game of cricket”.
Thanks also to our generous sponsors-
Through the generosity of the teams and our sponsors we have been able to make donations of equipment and cash to Khayelitsha Cricket Club and to the Bennie and Shirley Rabinowitz Cricket Trust in support of grassroots and township cricket.

So it is on to Wellington, New Zealand for the 6th World Vintage Cricket Carnival-full details and a fabulous video on this website are available to background what will be a wonderful Carnival, in an outstanding city and amongst some great New Zealand cricket personalities.

To be hosted by the Tawa Turtles Cricket team (regulars at Vintage Carnivals and Golden Oldies Festivals worldwide), the Carnival has the full support of the Wellington Cricket Association and Tourism Wellington.
Our cricket ambassadors...Grant Baker (Tawa Turtles), Bryan Waddle (Radio New Zealand cricket commentator for over 25 years), Gavin Larsen (former New Zealand Test and ODI star and currently CEO of Wellington Cricket) and Ewen Chatfield (former New Zealand Test and ODI opening bowler) will welcome you to Wellington, capital of New Zealand and one of the great cricketing destinations of the world.

And the final world comes from Andre Odeendal, Chief Executive of Western Province Cricket Association....

“At a time when cricket is taking of in unprecedented ways at the top commercial levels your presence...reminds us that the soul of cricket still resides in the hundreds of thousands of players from many different backgrounds in many different places who play the game socially for the love of it promoting respect and understanding amongst people in the process”.