Field Trip . . . . A Day at the Cricket Pitch

Day 14 - I know that I keep saying this was the best day, and that the most recent thing we saw was the most amazing.  But today will definitely be one of the highlights of this trip.  Today our class learned to play Cricket.

Before I go any further, I want to say thank you to  Peter Wellings of Coaching Cricket Excellence, http://www.coachingcricketexcellence.co.uk/ without him and his staff, this day would not have been possible.  Peter and his team took 22 American with a little more than a cursory understanding of the game and molded them into a group of Cricket Enthusiasts.  Peter's skill development techniques, knowledge of the sport, passion for the game, and warm and witty personality made this a wonderful day.

We left by coach at 8am this morning to make the trip to Surry.  Yes, our students were none to happy with the early departure but the coach ride was uneventful.  (Don't despair- the response at the end was "I thought 8am was way too early, but it was worth it.")  We met Peter's team and were off. 

We started with some simple drills and warm ups, followed by throwing drills.  (In Cricket you throw underhanded, a little weird at first.)  Next we moved to catching drills.  Now for many reading, "ok for US students (baseball/softball) how hard can catching be, right?"  Well, a ball in Cricket is 5 times harder than a baseball, and you catch it BARE handed.  (We used tennis balls, thankfully.)  Peter took a tennis ball and WHACKED it stories in the air, we scrambled to get under it and catch it.  A couple of times, it bounced off one player and was caught by another.  All of which is fair in Cricket.

With catching drills it was off to the races with our intra-team competition.  (The oldest rivalry in cricket is England vs. Australia, so we divided into those two teams.  Winners get bragging rights.  At this point I have to comment that although there was plenty of trash talking and competition, the amount of sportsmanship our students showed was PHENOMENAL.)    After catching, it was  batting.  Individuals with a baseball/softball/golf background were not always at an advantage.  This is where Peter's mastery at skill progression really shined.  After batting, lunch, then on to Bowling.  (No we didn't hit a Bowling alley, it is the equivalent of pitching in baseball/softball.)  Basically, Bowling is a stiff arm, over hand throw.  Easy to do standing, not so easy with the wind- up.  Eventually, most of us were successful.

The highlight of the day, however, was the game.  A proper test match lasts 5 days and at the end, if there is no winner, it is a draw.  (No sudden death overtime in Cricket.)  We played two Overs (innings) and had an amazing time.  Australia won!  but a good time was had by all.  If you want to see pics, like the CCSA London 2012:  Olympics Class on Facebook.


Over half the students slept on the way home.  Some students are even threatening to start a rec league at their school and have an inter-collegiate competition.  What an amazing day!!!!  We feel truly blessed to have such a great group of students!!!.


(The adults on the trip (Megan and I) participated in everything, and in spite of our ages kept up nicely with the bunnies on this trip.)