St Benedict’s Cricket Tour to Sri Lanka

Published on isbi School News dated Monday 25th of April 2016

Members of the U15 and U14 cricket squads at St Benedict’s School in Ealing enjoyed a fantastic tour to Sri Lanka over the Easter holidays. The touring party stayed in Kandy, Hikkaduwa and Colombo and played a total of six matches. The challenge was to cope with the extreme heat and humidity, to compete with talented Sri Lankan boys who play cricket throughout the year and to get accustomed to high quality spin bowling. By the end of the tour there was a huge improvement – the last two matches produced a pulsating tie against the Sanath Jayasuriya Academy followed by a memorable win against the Colombo Colts Cricket Academy – the school’s first win in Sri Lanka in two tours! Player of the tour was Captain Tomek Tsang, who batted with great maturity and scored 214 runs including three consecutive fifties. He backed this up with 6 wickets at 16.33. Vice-Captain Alex Holmes bowled off-spin with great control at the end of the tour, taking 11 wickets at 13.82. Other notable performances included opening batsman Tom Knight’s 63 v. Sanath Jayasuriya Academy and leg-spinner Freddie Saward’s 4-28 v Kurunegala Academy. Keith Newell, Head of Cricket at St Benedict’s, said: “It was a great privilege to visit such a beautiful country and to be welcomed with such warmth. We hope to give other St Benedict’s pupils this opportunity in the future.” Before the tour the boys raised an impressive total of £4,700 for the Foundation of Goodness, a charity that changes the lives of rural communities which continue to suffer from the long-term consequences of the devastating 2004 Tsunami. They cycled, rowed and ran, between them, the entire circumference of Sri Lanka, raising sponsorship for this cause. The touring party visited the Foundation’s headquarters during the tour. After being shown around the facilities and experiencing at first hand the wonderful work that takes place on a daily basis, they played cricket, rugby and football with a group of delightfully bright, enthusiastic and optimistic young children whose smiles were a sheer delight to behold. The afternoon concluded with the presentation of the cheque by tour captain Tomek Tsang. Dicky Thomas, Head of Co-curricular at St Benedict’s, commented: “This was a day that none of us will ever forget, and the school intends to continue to support the Foundation.”