College – Issue 35

SPORT 2018 UK and Singapore tour an eye opener for players

A visit to the famous Gray-Nicolls bat factory was the equivalent of a match winning moment for the 26 boys who travelled to the United Kingdom and Singapore in the April holidays.

Thwarted by wintry conditions and unable to play several of their proposed fixtures, the 1st XI and a Development team from College (accompanied by a squad of 40 enthusiastic parents and friends and four staff) made the most of every moment on tour, even when they couldn’t pad up. Scheduled to play a total of 21 games in Singapore and England, the boys missed five because of the weather, but acquitted themselves

well in the remaining matches, winning half. “It was a cricket tour, but it was about so much more than cricket,” says Director of Sport Rob Clarke, who led the group, along with Andrew Levenger, Neil Nicholson and 1st XI coach Keryn Ambler. “Because it wasn't a competition, it meant the coaching staff could try new things and give younger boys opportunities to play in the

1st XI, allowing us to tinker and experiment, and the players to try new things. It also means that the 1st XI coach has now seen at least 20 boys play, knows them, and this is great for our coming season. “We won’t see the benefits of the tour until Term 4 when we see the growth and development that has accrued. In the past we’ve seen some real benefits.” After months of fundraising, the tour began with four fixtures over

Christ’s College Canterbury

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