The Wykehamist
what was an unforgettable evening for all.
The next two days consisted of rest, and, more importantly, sightseeing, and embracing the vibrance of Sri Lankan culture. Firstly we visited the Pinnawala elephant orphanage, greeted by the idyllic sight of elephants wallowing in a wide, shallow river, surrounded by jungle. Many of the group had never seen elephants before and so to be able to stroke them and feed them was a very memorable experience. We learnt about how the orphanage was set up in 1975 to accommodate elephants who had been injured by poachers, which demonstrated the importance of the work that the orphanage does. Subsequently, we visited a tea plantation – and in fact, it was the very plantation which was the original home of Lipton tea. Sri Lanka is renowned for its tea production and those working at the plantation took us through the process of crafting the tea from the leaves, which was fascinating as we saw how a commodity which many of us enjoy every day is made. Afterwards, we were treated to some of the tea which had been made on the plantation. The next day we visited a turtle hatchery, where we learnt all about the life cycle of the turtles. We all held the turtles, and saw rows upon rows of eggs waiting to hatch.
During the two rest days we transferred to our second hotel, which we admitted was nicer than the first and seemed almost too nice for a cricket tour. We made the most of the enormous swimming pool before our next match the following day, which was a 50 over game. Batting first once again, we started fluently this time. However, a couple of unfortunate dismissals and some questionable umpiring set us back, losing constant wickets. Hope of maintaining our 100 % record seemed lost before Seb Kingsbury( A, 2021-) came to the crease, combining patience and raw power to put together what was, in the opinion of most, the innings of the tour, scoring an excellent 64. The ground itself was magnificent once again and the surrounding trees were riddled with monkeys – at one point the game had to be stopped when various monkeys fell out of the tree screeching and scrapping with each other. Many of us also enjoyed playing with the ever-present and unbelievably passionate Sri Lankan children, who were adamant we take photographs with them. The match resumed, and unfortunately the bowlers were not consistent enough, and were taken apart by a fantastic Sri Lankan opening batsman whose blistering half century meant that we were always behind in the game. Spinners George Bowder( B, 2020-), Tom Howard( E, 2022-) and Archie Lawson( I, 2021-) in particular bowled brilliantly to keep us in the game, but ultimately we did not have enough runs on the board and conceded our first loss of the tour.
To brighten the mood we spent the evening in Galle, where we visited the colonial hill fort which separates the Indian Ocean and the iconic international cricket stadium, the site of which would be our final match. We were treated to a delicious dinner in Galle by the parents, who had accompanied us on the tour with Sri Lankan food and drink enjoyed all round.
The next day we had another 50-over game, this time against a men’ s club team – so we knew that the opposition would be as challenging as the previous day. This was compounded by the fact that they had a Sri Lankan first class bowler in their ranks; nevertheless we won the toss and elected to bat first. Our batsmen struggled to make good connection with the ball, with credit going to their opening bowlers who bowled skilfully, hitting consistent areas at good pace. Once again, though, the middle order fought back with a vital 30 from Rhys Kanbi( D, 2020-) and a useful partnership from George B and Stanley Askew( K, 2021-), enabling us to reach a very under-par 138. As with previous games we did not start particularly well with the ball, but two quick wickets, including the seemingly form batsman, began an almighty capitulation with Sam Humphreys( D, 2020-) snaffling a couple of key wickets. This really opened the door, and George B and Tom H bowled in tandem as well as they ever have, taking three each and bowling out the opposition for a miserly 120 to claim a very impressive win.
The cricket did not stop coming, as the next and penultimate day of our tour we visited the Foundation of Goodness cricket pitch. We had visited the foundation on one of our rest days, and got to learn all about the immensely valuable work that they do to nurture local children. It was set up in 2005 after a tsunami devastated the area. The Foundation has received visits and donations from all kinds of prominent institutions such as the MCC but also numerous legendary players. During our visit we spent time in a classroom helping the pupils with learning to type and use CAD. When it came to the cricket, we lost the toss for the first time and bowled
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