During the June – July school holidays, 21 boys, accompanied by three staff members went on a Cricket tour to the UK, organised by Director of Cricket, Mr Ross Turner and teacher, Mr Holdgate. Over the two weeks we were there, we played 10 games of Cricket, toured around London, Stonehenge and Bath and watched a day of the Cardiff Ashes Test. It was a busy tour, but certainly worth the flight and all the bus trips.

After arriving at Heathrow, we toured around London, seeing some of the most popular tourist attractions, such as the Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, and took a ride on the London Eye, where we saw all of London in half an hour. The following day we toured Lords, the home of Cricket, and where every young cricketer dreams to play. Each of the places we visited were spectacular, and it was an inspiring way to start off our tour, before moving on to the different schools we’d play.

Our first destination was Dulwich, a school founded before Australia, with plenty of history. The Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, attended the school, and the boat he used is held in the school’s art display room. Unfortunately when it came to Cricket we didn’t get off to a good start, losing our first game. But we had plenty more chances to try and get a win.

After Dulwich, we then moved on to Bedford, a school one hundred years older than Dulwich, and where the current English Cricket Captain Alastair Cook, attended school. We unfortunately didn’t find any success at Bedford either, or at Hampton, where we were playing the next day. However, we were getting plenty of great experience, and the matches were gradually getting tighter as we progressed through the tour. We lost our fourth game closely to Reading Blue Coats, and this was followed by our first victory, against The Thomas Hardye School; a game which the Mayor of Dorchester came along to watch. Two more victories followed in games against Kingston Grammar School in Bath, and The Glyn Epsom School. 

We then played our final three games in the Tonbridge Cricket Festival, a competition played annually between Tonbridge, Millfield, a South-African school and an Australian school. The school facilities were incredible, with numerous Cricket pitches, over 13 Rugby ovals, as well as a 400 m synthetic athletic track. We played Tonbridge, then Millfield and finished up the festival with a game against Hilton, the South African school. The three matches we played here were certainly our most challenging, with some really high quality opposition. Tonbridge had a boy playing county Cricket for Kent, while Millfield had several players in different U19s National sides, including Zimbabwe and Barbados. 

In addition to the sites of London and Lords, we also visited the Roman Baths in Bath, as well as the historic monument, Stonehenge. It was great to see the famous sites of England, and was certainly needed to give us a break between matches. With a 21-man squad, when we weren’t playing, we were able to tour around the area near where our team mates were playing. Boys also visited some great sites both in and around London, such as Windsor Castle, the Natural History Museum, and the university town of Cambridge.

The final day of our tour was spent in Cardiff, Wales, to watch the third day of the first Ashes Test. It was great to watch the match, and even better to be there on a day when Australia captured all 10 of England’s wickets. The experience was enhanced when we had the chance to speak with Ryan Harris, the uncle of one of our boys on tour. Mr Turner also arranged for us to spend time in the Channel Nine commentary box, when Mark Taylor, Ian Healy and Mark Nicholas were all commentating, with Newington’s tour getting a special mention from Mark Taylor. The day after the test we headed back to Heathrow and took our flight back to Sydney.

The entire tour was an incredible journey and something that I would recommend to any cricketer who is fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to attend. It was an amazing experience, playing against quality opposition who challenged us with bat and ball. We had a fantastic time on tour, and the camaraderie within the team was brilliant, and that was not only because of the boys who travelled together, but also to the teachers who supervised us. Special thanks must go to Mr Graham Potter, who accompanied us on the tour, particularly helping some of the boys through injury and illness, as well as Mr Turner and Mr Holdgate, who worked hard to organise the tour, and coached us to develop our cricketing skills, and also gave up their time to come along with us.

Mitchell Long (10/MA) and Matthew Putt (10/PR)
Newington Cricket Tour Members