WJCA Under 14 Tour Blog

Day 1
The day started with a 9a.m. meet at Edinburgh airport. We all got our small training tops (which were all at least 3 sizes too small) from Jamie Burton and Josh Johnstone. We spent an hour and a half on a propeller plane that took us to our destination – Jersey. We were met by 20 degree sunshine and the bus which took us to our hotel.

We offloaded our luggage and the boys had the opportunity to have a walk around the area. We even talked to a man who used to live in Glasgow and he told us all about the island. By this time our rooms were ready for check in so the team got settled into their twin rooms before we took a walk along the beach.

It was decided we would have a light training session on the sand in the evening and although it took the team time to adjust to the ground conditions we quickly became used to it through a series of fielding drills. The challenging session was followed by a relaxing game of beach cricket.

In the evening we had an enjoyable meal before the group split into two for those who wanted to have a walk on the beach and those who wanted to take a dip in the hotel pool.

Jamie and Josh then gave us a debrief before bedtime to give us the team for the next day, breakfast times and meet times.

All in all day 1 was a good experience for the whole team, giving us our first insight into the Channel Islands.

Ross Armour and Ilan Selby

Day 2

The second day of the WCA U14 tour to Jersey started well with a hearty breakfast and a swim for some and a jog down the beach for others. At 12.30 we headed down to the ground before a 40 over match against a strong Jersey U14 side. A light but intense warm up consisting of some challenging drills saw everyone raring to go for the match.

Skipper Dhruv Satpute lost the toss and was made to field on a decent deck with a slowish outfield. All-rounders Dean Kennedy and Dhruv opened the bowling and applied some early pressure with the new ball. Kennedy got two wickets with consecutive balls, the second of which being a beautiful good length ball that seamed at least 6 inches to take out the top of off. He went on to take a third leaving Jersey at 27 -3.

Jersey then piled on the runs in a solid partnership between their captaining opener and their number five batsman. Sammy Tung then took the fourth and final wicket late in the innings with a magical catch taken stood up to the stumps by keeper Nitesh Majhu. Other fine spells by young leggy Chris McBride and Alistair Preston-Jones restricted Jersey to 154 – 4 after their 40 overs.

During the interval the top four padded up and the fielders went out. Our opener Nitesh was given out caught behind for 0 flashing after a wide ball. In at number three was useful batsman Alistair who unfortunately mistimed a shot straight to square leg for 3. Nicholas “Justin Bieber” Pyne and Mitchel Rao then played some classy strokes to build a good partnership until Mitch fell for 21.

The lower order built some small but useful partnerships which consisted of 26 from Ross Armour, 15 from Dhruv, 12 from Dean, 11 not out from Doug Willoughby and a match winning 2 not out from Chris to ensure the first win on tour.

Later that night we celebrated by having dinner and watching the World Cup semi final between Holland and Uruguay at Jersey Joes.

Dhruv Satpute and Dean Kennedy

Day 3

Day 3 was another successful day for the Academy with an excellent win over a well organised Victoria College side who consisted of many Jersey U14 and U15 players.
Having lost the toss the Academy were invited to field in this match which was reduced to 20 overs a side.

The hard looking surface looked like a batsmen’s wicket as Vic college got off to a solid start. The breakthrough finally came thanks to a good catch at mid on from the bowling of Ilan “Iain” Selby. The lads then continued to bowl and field well restricting Vic to 107 – 7 off their 20 overs. There were fine bowling contributions from Wee Al, Dean and Ilan.

The boys then went out to bat with fine contributions of 35 from Nitesh, 27 from Nicholas and 16 not out from Ilan, which enabled the team to chase down the total with three balls to spare.

Another great win on tour for the boys of the WCA.

Doug Willoughby and Sam Tung

Day 4

Today we went to the game versus Jersey u15’s via Victoria College as Doug had left his spikes there after yesterday’s game. When we got to the ground Dhruv lost his third toss of the tour and we were again asked to bowl.

The lads started really well with Ilan picking up three quick fire wickets with fine swing bowling. Then Mitchell and Wee Al came on for a spell, where Mitch took two for 16. At this point a partnership was made, though eventually Dhruv broke it and Nicholas came on for one over  and also picked up a wicket caught behind by Nitesh.

Wee Al came back into the attack at the death and took the big wicket of the centurion although he was dropped various times and the Jersey innings ended on 219 – 9.
The batting was opened by Ross and Nicholas. Nick got off to a good start, scoring 10 off the first three balls of the innings.

Three overs in Armour was clean bowled for 0 before Nick also departed in similar fashion for 15. Nitesh and Mitchell then got a good partnership going but woeful running cost Rao his wicket for 9. Nitesh soon followed guiding the ball to slip. Dhruv scored 15 and Wee Al scored a battling 27 not out. Sadly the boys collapsed due to some poor shots and dodgy running to leave the WCA 111 all out.

Nicholas Pyne and Mitchell Rao