Dean Feneysey had no idea he would be playing East Anglian Premier League cricket for Halstead when he arrived in England five games ago.

But the South African quickie is here to stay for the rest of the season and was spearheading the bowling attack when skipper Paul Harris took his Star Stile squad to play Swardeston on Saturday.

The lofty Springbok left-armer is currently in Halstead visiting his grandparents.

And as he prepared for the game at the weekend the 27-year-old paceman revealed: "I have been travelling around the world for the past year and a half and when I came to England I wasn't planning on playing cricket.

"But I'm loving every minute of it and I shall definitely be around until the end of the season.

Feneysey, who has played Premier League cricket in Johannesburg and represented the Transvaal League, added: "I'm mainly concentrating on my bowling while I'm over here, but I fancy myself with the bat, especially in quicktime situations, and I'm always itching to smack the ball about."

Although he admits to finding the rules "a bit strange," and the wickets "too docile," the new East Anglian Premier League gets a thumbs-up from Feneysey.

He said: "I thought the pitches would be a bit livelier, but there are a lot of strong teams playing in the league and some of the grounds are the most picturesque I have ever played on."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.