On the 13th of April, Ben Hartland and I were lucky enough to find ourselves hopping on a plane heading to Sri Lanka and Singapore on The Willows Cricket Club Youth Tour. An amazing opportunity we both feel very grateful for. 

The tour is selected from 1st XI players from the lower North Island to the bottom of the South Island. The Willows Cricket Club takes a team of 1st XI players on tour every two years and this was the 8th trip they have done to the sub-continent. A number of BLACKCAPS have been on this trip as school boys, including Old Boy Tom Latham and STAC Old Boy Henry Nicholls.

We arrived at Colombo airport at 2am local time and were soon hit by a 30°C wall of moist, suffocating air and we wondered how we were going to play cricket in this. We luckily had a day to recover from the 15 hours on the big bird before cracking into our first game the following day, at Moore’s Cricket Club against their club side. We won the toss and batted, mainly so we could disappear into the air-conditioned sheds. After being 20/5 we recovered to being all out for 160 which was well defendable, and we skittled them for 60.

This was just a taste of the cricket we played in Sri Lanka, playing 7 games and winning 5 of them. All of the batsmen performed with the bat at some stage throughout, and we learnt alot about our own games and how to play spin on the turning sub-continent pitches, which was very different to what we were used to at home. We played against high quality spinners, including a few that were in the Sri Lanka U19s the previous year. Ben and I both spent time out at the wicket learning and experiencing different things, as well as discussing ideas and game plans that we both think have improved us as cricketers. We hope to implement these lessons in the important upcoming one day season for the 1st XI. 

The cricket was a great experience in Sri Lanka, testing our skills against players who have had years to adapt their games to their conditions. Everyone on the tour learnt heaps about the game of cricket as well as our individual games. Not only that, we have experienced how hard it is for international cricket teams to travel to the sub-continent and play at their best in test matches for 5 days straight, when we struggled to do so for one day at a time.

Ben and I both agreed that our highlight of the trip was not the cricket but the time we spent at the Cricket Live Foundation. The foundation was set up by 25-year-old Alex Reece, with the vision of providing education and life skills to under privileged kids in Sri Lanka with cricket being the catalyst. We were able to spend a few hours at one of the schools that Alex has set up and play an 18 over game with some children from the Foundation. It was a great time, and we both realised how cricket is so much more than just a game for these kids. It means so much to them and the enjoyment they showed playing with poor quality equipment on a poor quality pitch and field, really left an impact on both of us. The boys on the tour really enjoyed this stop just south of Colombo, and most of us left some of our kit behind to be used by these kids who have been dealt tough cards in life. These kids would be wearing wrong handed gloves, swapping bats as they got out, and keeping in gloves that had insects eating holes in them from the inside. The smile on their faces when we presented them our keeping gloves, batting gloves, and pads was special. It made us realise how lucky and privileged we are. Being able to play with them and leave some kit behind made us feel we were having an impact on their lives, which was a cool feeling.

Aside from the cricket we saw some amazing cities within Sri Lanka including Colombo, Kandy, and Galle. We experienced really interesting things like visiting an elephant orphanage in Pinnawalla, taking a tour through a tea factory and we were fortunate enough to be able to play a game at the stunning Galle International Stadium overlooked by the Galle Fort which saved so many lives in the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.

On the way home from Sri Lanka, we went to Singapore for a couple of days. We arrived in Singapore to some rain which we were all excited to see after the hot conditions in Sri Lanka. We played a rain shortened 30 over game at the beautiful Singapore Cricket Club which is a small ground surrounded by the high-rises in the middle of the city. The next day we had another rain affected game at another small cricket ground where we came out on top due to Duckworth Lewis. We had one more day in Singapore before flying out that night, so we had a good night and a good day sightseeing around Singapore checking out the local sights.

Ben and I were extremely lucky and privileged to have the opportunity to go on the Willows Youth Cricket Club Tour of Sri Lanka and Singapore. We have learnt alot as people, as well as cricket players, seen a completely different part of the world and have also made some great mates for life from a variety of different schools throughout New Zealand.