DDCA (under 22) Tour of Australia

Week 1 - Tour of sydney

DDCA (under 22) team completed their opening week first leg tour of Australia at Sydney and flew to Brisbane this afternoon gaining confidence and technical knowledge from experts of the game.

No sooner on their arrival for 19 days to on Monday the DDCA team members had a coaching cum training session at the Power education indoor cricket center, of the Sydney cricket grounds from Tuesday.

Some moments

The players at the nets gained some valuable tips and guidance from legendary cricketer Doug Walters, on the art of batting, fielding and also some advice from former test all rounder Barry Knight , Peter Phillipot and later also had a look in from Trent Woodhill, Delhi Daredevil, Coach at the SCG . The following day the DDCA team in their opening encounter against the Mayor of Hornsby XI led by Nick Berman, himself DDCA made mincemeat of the home side recording a comfortable nine wicket wins in a rain interrupted game. Batting first Mayor’s eleven were bundled out for a meager 86 all out of 20 overs Matt Taylor 17, & Charles 15 were the only contributors for home side. Left Arm spinner Darshan Kajania wrecked the home side with 4 for 17. DDCA in reply notched off the required runs with the loss of only Abhisheikh’s wicket in 11.3 overs. Ankur Julka 35 and S. Passi 25 remained unseparated for visitors.

The next day the visitors had a vigorous day at the SCG power education cricket center, once again with Dough Walters, joined by former Australian wicket keeper, Brian Taber who also provided valuable tips on the art of Wicket Keeping. Barry knight, peter phillipot also held individual sessions with the visiting cricketers. Spin coach. David Freedman , Asst Coach at the New South Wales, also imparted his knowledge of the art of spin bowling to the players.

Some more moments

Later in the afternoon the players were taken for a full advanced fitness training programme at Ashfield under the watchful eyes of Marc Symore, Fitness Trainer. He assessed each player on the fitness and guided them o various innovative aspects. On Friday the visitors played a thrilling tie against New South Wales 19 side who batting first made 136 for 8 wickets off 30 overs. Tim Armstrong 38 and Nick Maddison 31 were the main contributors. Paceman Shawaz Khan 3 for 25 and Darshan Kajania 3 for 31 checked the home team progress. DDCA in pursuit also fell short and leveled at 138 on the final ball of the match. Sandeep Kaushik unbeaten on 58 made a valiant effort for DDCA but was thwarted by Nick Maddison who chipped in with last minute 2 for 5 in three overs. Requiring two runs of the last ball DDCA batsman were restricted by the spirit local lads as the visitor’s tied.Ashish made 27.

On Saturday, the boys had extended fitness regimentation at ashfield under the watchful eyes of trainer March Symore. The players were once again individually monitored and guided on the aspect of regular fitness programme required by the players on a daily basis. Players were later taken for the AFL , Australian Rules Football game at the SCG cricket ground were they witness the game with around 30,000 wildly cheering fans.

On the final Sunday the DDCA side also made short work of the Barry Knight XI. The visitors put into bat survived an early collapse at 40 for seven before recovering from a 8th wicket stand of 107 from Mayank Raghav 72 (62 balls,6x6) and Anurag Thakur 32 to help DDCA reach 168 all out of 39 overs. The wily leg spinner Mayank later starred with a match winning spell of 6 for 10 to bundle out the home side for 85 in 29 overs. Chris pain remained 25 not out. Mayank was declared Man of the Match Award and was presented with an Australian Test Match Ball for his all round ability by Barry Knight himself. The team will now play two ODI’s at Brisbane on Wednesday and Friday respectively and also visit the Australian center of cricket excellence before moving to Mackay for the final leg.