Scotch College

The cricket opportunity of a lifetime

For 15 Year 10 and 11 boys, a UK cricket tour this winter was a great opportunity to hone their cricketing skills.

WORDS: AYRTON ELDRIDGE AND JAMIE MACMILLAN • YEAR 11

On Saturday 21 June, 15 boys, accompanied by Mr Murphy and Mr Banks, left Melbourne for England on a three-week cricket tour. This tour provides boys from Years 10 and 11 the opportunity of a lifetime to play against some of England’s famous schools, and experience the different cricketing conditions that England has to offer.

The tour did not get off to a perfect start, as Will Darling became ill on the flight, and was admitted to hospital in Singapore. The boys handled this stressful time well, and much to everyone’s relief, Will made a quick recovery and was able to rejoin the tour once he had been cleared.

An early highlight of the tour was our match against Eton College, one of the most famous schools in the world, founded almost 600 years ago. We were keen to make a good impression on our new Principal Mr Batty, who came to watch the match. He may have had second thoughts about leaving Eton to come to Scotch as we were thrashed by 10 wickets!

The next day we were fortunate enough to play in the grounds of Windsor Castle, against the Royal Household Cricket Club. We were on top for most of the match, but we failed to bowl them out, so the match ended in a draw. This game was also significant as it was Will Darling’s comeback game, which gave us a lift, and we had high hopes of a fairytale return. However, this did not eventuate, as Will was dismissed for a first ball duck!

From there, we travelled north, playing matches in Loughborough, Birmingham and Liverpool. Days off gave us the chance to rest and sightsee in Leicester, Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Disappointingly, rain interrupted our final few matches, and we finished up with five wins from nine completed games, a fantastic effort seeing as the teams we played were generally older than us, and were in the middle of their season.

Ayrton Eldridge was the standout performer on tour, scoring 449 runs, including two hundreds against Ratcliffe College and Merchant Taylor’s Crosby. Al McMahon and Seb Mather each made two half-centuries, while Nick Jamieson also performed well with the bat. Al Reeves had a strong tour on the field, leading the wicket tally with eight, and putting in some solid batting performances. Tom Sinclair backed up the Reeves show with some fine all-round performances. Ed Barbour’s four-wicket haul against the Royal Household Cricket Club was the best bowling performance of the tour. Jamie Macmillan’s scoring and team support was also greatly appreciated by the boys.

Two days at the end of the tour in London gave us the chance to visit some tourist attractions, such as Oxford Street, Buckingham Palace, Madame Tussauds, the London Eye and Lord’s, the home of cricket. We stopped over in Singapore for one night, where we had the opportunity to experience a different culture, and relax before our final flight home. All of us have come back from the tour with greater experience and skills to take into the upcoming season, and memories to last a lifetime. Our thanks go to Mr Banks and Mr Murphy for all the hard work they put in, to make the tour such a success. GS