August 2024 saw the departure of SHSK’s first-ever overseas cricket tour to Sri Lanka.
On 5 August, fifteen students headed to Colombo Airport on a twelve-day cricket tour, spread across three base locations in Sri Lanka.
It was a surprisingly smooth and seamless journey as we headed to Kandy, an inland city, based around a stunning lake, where we would stay for the first four nights of the tour.
Upon arrival, we trained (rather tired and a little jet lagged) at the Pallakele International Cricket Stadium, a great way to blow off the cobwebs from the flight and immerse ourselves in cricketing culture — high humidity, dry pitches and battling tiredness from the trip were challenges to adjust to.
On day two, after a relaxing evening at the hotel and a swim, we travelled to a local school to play ‘Kandy Combined Schools XI’ in 2 t20 fixtures. In two competitive games, a one wicket victory and a dominant batting display from SHSK (Emilia top scoring with 45 off 26 balls) we came away two wins from two games, playing under a stunning mountain backdrop. Ending the evening with a cultural dance show, meal and some relaxed but highly competitive UNO playing.
Following on from an intense day of cricket we travelled to Sigiriya Rock, an ancient rock fortress formerly occupied by monks. Shaped like a Lion and with multiple Lion statues carved in, it is known as ‘The Lion Rock’. Following this we visited a Spice Garden and toured the garden and all the products they make using the plants. Mr Herbert leaving with a partially waxed leg and Miss Barras looking 10 years younger from the anti-ageing cream, we travelled back to the hotel.
Mr Herbert led a walk around Kandy Lake to see the beautiful sites. We visited the Kandy Temple where they were preparing for the Kandy Festival, where over 100 elephants gather to tour a cask round the city to celebrate their religion and cultural history.
Another day of cricket came and went against some quality opposition, including one member of Sri Lanka’s U19 World Cup squad, a tough game where we bowled and fielded exceptionally to keep the oppo to 135, before falling short to their exceptional spin attack. The next morning, we awoke to travel to Hikkaduwa, with multiple tourist stops along the way.
Firstly, on the next day, we visited a tea factory to see the process of one of Sri Lanka’s most historic exports, from picking leaves to infusing them with multiple flavours, health benefits and a range of additional products.
The next stop, and possibly the highlight of the trip to most, was the visit to the elephant orphanage where we bathed and fed elephants, an opportunity to purchase some souvenirs as well as understand the history and behaviours of elephants in Sri Lanka.
Following this we stopped for a riverside lunch at Pinnalanda, where we saw elephants in their natural behaviours bathing and drinking from the lake, walking through the streets up close and personal. Seeing over 30 elephants in this environment was a moment all will remember. After a day of travelling, we settled into our beachside hotel in Hikkaduwa for the next three nights. With a sea breeze making UNO playing very tricky, we powered through, ready for two consecutive days of cricket.
Over the next two days, we played at General Balagalle Cricket Stadium, a first-class ground where Sri Lanka A play some of their fixtures. It was a great experience for the students. Winning one and losing one by 1 wicket, another two great days of cricket experience passed.
With the girls acclimatising to conditions, adjusting to different pitches and progressing in their play versus spin bowling they were growing in confidence but truly appreciating the opportunity they had to experience this tour. On the second evening, we visited Galle Forte, seeing the international stadium and walking through the streets and shops. The Forte was a bustling hive of activity with a range of local produce, coffee and Ceylon tea shops as well as restaurants. Sticking out into the ocean, it is a unique place to visit and views from the clock tower gave a real sense of the history of the city.
Day eight was again a travel day to Colombo, where we were staying in Mount Lavinia Hotel, a beautiful old government residence converted into a hotel sticking out in the ocean, with views from the rooms over the ocean and beaches as well as the city skyline. Along the journey, we again had two stops. Firstly, at the Madu River Safari, seeing the local wildlife including eagles, monitor lizards, and monkeys and visiting Cinnamon Island, where one family lived in a small hut, growing and making cinnamon products to be sold. Another great experience was holding a crocodile and drinking herbal tea. From there we travelled to Miss Barras’s highlight and lifelong dream, the turtle hatchery. We held baby turtles, saw where they were hatched and understood the conservation efforts for injured and endangered turtle species. Another memory for the girls to treasure.
For the next three nights, we stayed just down the coast from Colombo, again playing at two first-class grounds over the following days — Bandaranaike Stadium on day one and Ace Capital Cricket Club on day two. Beautiful grounds with city skyline backdrops, again the growth and development of the players were really on show. A win in the first game, with some exceptional bowling, and a very tight 1-wicket loss to end the tour against lovely opposition, who we spent some time with after the game celebrating our tour and thanking the tour guides for showing us round their beautiful country. The two days in Colombo were capped off with a city tour, visiting a temple with views over the sea, the Lotus building and a second Buddhist temple. We went to an essential stop to buy some Sri Lanka cricket shirts, and it was back to the hotel we headed to pack our bags to leave the next morning. A wonderful way to end a brilliant tour.
Some tour highlights, in addition to the playing experiences at high-quality grounds against brilliant opposition, were some evening walks out with Mr Herbert, around the river and temple in Kandy, out into Hikkaduwa and an adventurous walk along some rough sea coastline in Colombo. The experiences at the elephant and turtle sanctuaries, Sigiriya Rock and the amazing hospitality and welcome received everywhere we went. Sri Lanka is a truly amazing country, with friendly people. A huge thank you must go to our tour guide Ruchi and Living with the Lions for their organisation – without whom the trip wouldn’t be the same. To finish off we have some quotes from students on the trip, Ceci and Emily.
Emily: “Having the opportunity to play cricket in Sri Lanka was incredible. The experience of playing there is so unique compared to cricket in the UK; we faced high temperatures, dusty wickets and many talented spin bowlers. The matches were generally extremely close, exciting and enjoyable and we finished with a good number of wins. Besides the cricket, we were lucky enough to visit many markets, temples and an elephant orphanage. Highlights for the team were holding the baby turtles and having massages at the Spice Garden. We found the Sri Lankans to be extremely welcoming and friendly, especially our tour guide Ruchi. Each night we were able to swim in the pool and go for walks along the beaches and some of us even had a ten-night Uno streak. We all returned with suitcases full of souvenirs, many memories and a new respect for spicy food!”
Ceci: “In August, I had the pleasure of participating in the first-ever SHSK overseas cricket tour to Sri Lanka. It was a privilege to be part of the Helkats squad and to experience some fantastic cricket matches, hard-fought wins and losses against very talented teams whilst pushing our limits in the incredibly humid heat and learning more about ourselves and each other. We arrived in Sri Lanka to be welcomed by our tour guide and tour bus, which took us on a rollercoaster ride – quite literally – to our first hotel as we soon found out that the rules on the roads appear to be pretty much non-existent, which took a bit of getting used to.
On match days, one of the most challenging things at first, despite the obvious heat, was getting to know each other and becoming a proper team since we had a mixture of years 9, 10 and 11. We learned about our skills and strengths on the field and everyone faced the formidable spin bowling, which we don’t often face in England, at some point. By the end of the tour, we felt united as a squad rather than a group of mixed ages and abilities and, ultimately, performed better as a team as we challenged some of the harder teams we would play on tour.
On rest days, we visited some amazing places including the Sigiriya Lion Rock Fortress which involved a climb of 1,200 steps to an incredible view, even though we got up early to make the climb in the cooler part of the day, by the time we were half-way up, the humidity and heat of Sri Lanka hit you, but it was worth it. We visited beautiful temples, experienced colourful and dramatic cultural dance with fire, learned about how tea is produced and saw some preparations for the Kandy elephant festival.
The elephant orphanage was definitely a highlight for many of us. We learned about the care elephants need and were able to feed and help wash some of the elephants – possibly also inspiring a few of us, me included, to purchase a few elephant ornaments to take back home. Alongside this, we visited the turtle conservation programme where we were able to hold baby turtles and some adult ones too!
Sri Lankan cuisine often turned out to be a lot spicier than what we are used to but nevertheless, we were all still determined to try new delicacies – even though sometimes we felt like our mouths were on fire.
The tour was a wonderful experience. It gave us the opportunity to forge friendships across year groups, meet new people, experience a different culture, refine cricket skills, gain valuable match play experience as well as identify skills to improve and practice on returning home.”
