Thirteen young cricketers have just returned from Worcestershire U13s two-week tour of South Africa.

The Worcestershire side, sponsored by Worcester Heath Systems, came back with a record of played five, won two, lost two and drew one.

The first match was against South African side Penryn, a school from near the Mozambique border. Worcestershire won the 35-over match by five wickets with Matt Pardoe, of Stourbridge Cricket Club, the star of the day with 5-20 - including a hat trick - and 53 runs.

The next day saw a defeat against another South African side - King Edwards Preparatory School. Worcestershire lost by four wickets, but captain Nitesh Patel, from Stourbridge, scored 60 before falling to a running, diving catch, the best of the tournament.

Day three saw Worcestershire beat Botswana with an outstanding display of bowling, James Musk taking 4-3 and Stephen Game taking 2-3 with his leg breaks.

Day four was a day/night match on St Stithians astro turf pitch, with the second innings under floodlights. It was to prove an anti-climax, with Worcestershire never really getting to grips with the surface. Worcestershire were 190 all out with Nitesh Patel scoring a fluent 66. Somerset laid into some wayward bowling to reach 193-2.

The last game of the tour was against the best side in the festival, the Lions Development side from Soweto. Liam Paddock, from Barnards Green CC took 4-21 as Worcestershire managed to restrict the Lions to just 159 all out, the first time in the tournament the Lions had not exceeded 200.

The Worcestershire innings subsided to 110-7, an honourable losing draw with a fine Sowetan side.

As well as playing in the festival, the boys were guests at the ICC World Cup final at the Wanderers Ground and were present to witness the Australian destruction of India in a fantastic atmosphere in front of more than 30,000 fans.

They also visited Soweto and saw the living conditions that many South Africans still endure, which was an eye opener and clearly a shock to many of them.