St Mary’s College cricketers benefit from USA tour

THE ST Mary’s College Under-16 cricket team benefited from international exposure and the opportunity to train and play in different conditions against competitive teams, while in the USA during the July/August holidays.

During the ten-day tour, St Mary’s played matches against numerous teams located in Queen’s (New York), Connecticut and New Jersey.

The team consisted of 20 players and four management team officials including coach Aaron Kurbanali, manager and dean of Form Six Rudranath Balwant, assistant manager and dean of Form One Nagil Sampath and assistant coach Richard Oliver.

Before the team left TT, the management team, along with captain Matthew Gittens, met with the acting public affairs officer Michael Barrera of the US Embassy in TT and made a presentation to him.

Apart from the recreational aspects which the boys usually enjoy, the boys learnt and developed team work, discipline, leadership, commitment and responsibility.

In terms of performance, there were good individual efforts. In all, the boys played eight matches in various formats including T20 matches.

St Mary’s played at a high level, especially since the team’s average age was 14 and some of the opposing sides were 16 to 19-year-olds. The St Mary’s cricketers learnt a lot about their shortcomings, and therefore grew in terms of their understanding and what is required for the upcoming 2019 Secondary Schools Cricket League season.