MTBS Cricket Tour Sri Lanka 2017

Day 7, Sooriyawewa International Stadium for Game 3: 1 st XI at the Sooriyawewa International Stadium It was time for Day 7, and also time for the highly anticipated visit to the Sooriyawewa International Stadium in Hambantota. The ground, which is also known less commonly as the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium, was only 30 minutes from the hotel and was built for the 2011 Cricket World Cup. It only hosted 2 games at this event, and has been sparingly used for international T20s since. Having narrowly avoiding monitor lizards enjoying their breakfast on the roads, we arrived at the 35,000 seater stadium with time to spare, allowing the boys to wander around the facility and enjoy the morning sun.   Sam Regan, Alex Thorpe, Matthew Still-Blundell, Adam Weston, Kunal Muhambray               Today our boys were up against sterner ...

Day 6, Udawalawe Safari: One of our rooms at the Grand Udawalawe Hotel               It was time to say goodbye to Colombo and the Pegasus Reef Hotel on Day 6 of our tour of Sri Lanka. Having rallied the boys and packed the bags, we boarded our “Golden Dragon” buses and embarked on a long and winding journey to Udawalawe. Weaving our way through small villages and dense jungle, it took nearly 5 hours to arrive at our destination. We passed via Ratnapura – meaning “City of Gems” – dreaming not only of wealth and gold, but also of a richness of runs against our next opposition, the Lancashire Cricket Academy. However, first on the agenda was a safari, and after unpacking at the Grand Udawalawe Hotel, and viewing the elephant-sized bats in reception, it was down the road to the safari resort. George Hopwood, Tom Preston, Jonny Browne and two over-...

Days 4 and 5, Games 1 & 2 of the trip:            With the next two days of the trip came our first 2 matches. It was curry for breakfast on the 4 th day (or something much more simple if one preferred!), and then both teams departed the hotel to their respective games. The 1 st XI travelled to the Moors Stadium to face Amana International School, and the 2 nd XI were at the Sri Lanka Air Force Stadium against Colts Academy. Some of our boys tuk-tuking into breakfast                             Despite the Sri Lanka air force and armed guard being present and rather intimidating for most of the game, the 2 nd XI won comfortably against a slightly mismatched opposition. The ground was right in the heart of Colombo, with one of the landmarks of Colombo, the Lotus Tower, in the background. ...

Thurstan College Cricket Net Practice, Sightseeing and Dinner: Day 3 on our trip to Sri Lanka proved to be a very hectic one, involving early morning swimming, lunchtime net practice, evening sightseeing and dinner out; actually, maybe life isn’t so hard after all!  After breakfast, the boys had some downtime to relax at the hotel, proving that an outside pool in this weather is pretty much paradise. Fortunately, there were few holidaymakers to anger when ball games inevitably ensued 5 minutes after entering the pool. Paradise!               From frolicking in the pool to competitive water polo, our imaginative boys were not short of things to do. However, they couldn’t relax for too long, as we were soon to embark on our first serious session of the trip: our cricketers were to attend a net practice with an ex-Sri Lankan Ladies’ National Team co...

Let's go!            Having managed to successfully meet on time for our flight from Manchester Airport, a long journey to Colombo via Doha awaited us. Steve Badham from Living With The Lions ably assisted with our check-in and it wasn’t long before the journey was underway. Despite the flights being rather long, the in-flight service with Qatar Airways was excellent, and one of our students even found some time to finish his half term Classics homework in-between watching movies and playing games. Classics homework and Doha from above On arriving at Colombo airport, we were met by our tour guides, Vijay and Rohana, who were keen to get us on our way to the hotel, whilst teaching us some Sri Lankan traditions at the same time. We were welcomed with our very own banner, and pink wreaths (as modelled by Nick Sweeney), and it wasn’t long before the boys made the tour bus their own. ...

Meet time: Tue 24th Oct, Manchester Airport Terminal 2 at 12:25 to check-in for our flight (Flight No. - QR028). The flight is scheduled to depart at 15:25 for Doha. We are scheduled to arrive at Doha airport at 00:35 (BST +3:00). From there, we will depart for Colombo at 02:10 (Flight No. - QR664), arriving in Colombo at 09:55 (BST +5:30). Don't forget your passports!