Date-stamped : 18 Jul96 - 18:16 Tour Match South Africa 'A' v Wales Minor Counties St.Helen`s, Swansea 14 July 1996 Result: South Africa 'A' won by 125 runs South Africa A recorded the first victory of their tour with an emphatic 125 run victory over the Welsh side that takes part in the Minor Counties Championship. The Welsh side, who this season have reached the semi-finals of the M.C.C. Trophy for the first time in their history, proved no match for the powerful Springbok side, and were handicapped by injuries to bowler Adrian Grif- fiths, and opening batsman Mike Newbold, who was hit above the right eye by a ball from Roger Telemachus, and was taken to hos- pital for precautionary X-rays. However, there was never a realistic chance of the Welshmen, who had only 2 players with first-class experience, beating the talented tourists and the 50 over friendly proved to be good practice for the young South Africans ahead of more testing chal- lenges against first-class opposition. The foundations of their substantial innings were laid by Test starlet Jacques Kallis who struck 106 from 112 balls, and shared two brisk partnerships of 106 with opener Sven Koenig, and later with Herschelle Gibbs, who weighed in with an aggressive 57 from just 36 deliveries. Despite the barrage of boundaries, the Welsh fielders stuck to their task, and although Koenig was dropped by Newbold off a steepling top edge, the ground fielding was generally good, and the highlight was a sharp throw by Gareth Davies from cover which ran out Hylton Ackerman. When the Welsh side batted they were tied down initially by the pace of Schultz and Telemachus and Kallis, and then by the wily spin of Nico Boje, Derek Crookes and Paul Adams, whose first per- formance on Welsh soil resulted in one wicket for 28 runs from 10 overs. However, it was Boje, who lead the South African side, who took the bowling laurels with figures of 3-14 in 8 overs. The only batsmen to offer any real resistance were wicket-keeper James Langworth, Andrew Jones, the son of former Glamorgan bats- man Alan Jones and Mark Davies, the former Glamorgan and Gloucestershire left arm spinner. Captain Barry Lloyd, the former Glamorgan off- spinner, added a few blows in the closing overs, as the young Springboks coasted to a comfortable win. Contributed by Dr.Andrew Hignell (higgers@rmplc.co.uk)