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NCU Development Tour Arrives in SA

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Two squads of junior players from the Northern Cricket Union have arrived in South Africa as part of an exciting development tour ran by the union.
Thirty boys and ten support staff have made the journey to Cape Town, where they will face several local sides as well as spending a day at the Gary Kirsten Cricket Academy.

The group is made up of both an Under 17 and an Under 15 team, with Stuart Nelson (Cregagh) captain of the under 17’s and James McClean (Ballymena) captaining the under 15’s.

The first matches of the tour will take place on Saturday March 28th when both sides take on their age group counterparts from Wynberg Boys’ High School.

The tour will not only give youngsters the opportunity to develop their cricket skills, but also take in the cultural experiences of another country, with trips to Robben Island, Table Mountain and Aquila Private Game Reserve.

The final match of the tour will be on April 4th, with the group returning home the following day, arriving back in Ireland on April 6th.

Andy Clement, Chairman, Northern Cricket Union, is looking forward to the first major overseas youth tour for a number of years, “The 2015 trip to South Africa will offer those touring a new and exciting dimension to their fledgling cricketing careers. Not only will they be visiting a country that will be new to the majority of them, they will also have a great opportunity to be ambassadors for the Union and cricket in general. Equally, I hope that they will learn something about the lives of others which are so different from their own whilst at the same time learning something about themselves as individuals.

“As Chairman, I see this very much as the first of, hopefully, numerous tours that our youth squads will enjoy over the forthcoming years. Some will not be as glamorous as South Africa but wherever they may be they form a crucial part of what we as a Union are trying to achieve and that is to have the most successful under age squads across Ireland. This tour along with forthcoming tours plus all the hours of coaching and practising month after month should help us in our journey to achieve that goal.”

Itinerary:

25 March 2015 – Depart Dublin

26 March 2015 – Arrive Cape Town. Net practice at Western Province CC.

27 March 2015 – Full day of Coaching at the Gary Kirsten Cricket Academy.

28 March 2015 – Matches versus Wynberg Boys’ High School.

29 March 2015 – Matches versus Western Province CC at Avenue de Mist.

30 March 2015 – Table Mountain by cable car followed by Robben Island Tour.

31 March 2015 – Matches versus St. Augustine’s CC.

01 April 2015 – Matches versus Western Province Cricket Academy U17 & U15.

02 April 2015 – Matches versus Groot Drakenstein Club Invitational XIs.

3 April 2015 – Visit to Aquila Private Game Reserve.

04 April 2015 – Matches versus District North Cricket at Durbanville.