Wiltshire Cricket's Talent Pathway teams set for tour of a lifetime to Sri Lanka

January 31, 2024

A girls team and two boys teams will be setting off to Sri Lanka on 3rd February for a 12 day tour consisting of five matches, two training sessions and some once in a lifetime experiences.

In early 2023, Wiltshire Cricket announced the continutation of its partnership with Lions Sports Travel, having provided overseas tours for pathway teams since 2017. These tours have become a hugely exciting part of our Talent Pathway offering and in 2024 we will be taking our biggest tour party yet!

Speaking of the tour, Wiltshire Cricket Managing Director, Pete Sykes, said the following:

"From a Cricket perspective, the tours consistently provide us with the appropriate level of challenge and the opportunity to play at special venues, ranging from high quality school and club grounds through to some of the incredible international venues that we have experienced. However, aside from the outstanding Cricket experience, one of Lions Sports Travel’s best attributes is their constant attention to detail and the personal service that they offer to all players and supporters.

As we look ahead to our 2024 tours, I am firstly delighted that we are returning to Sri Lanka. The country is an incredible place, rich with natural beauty, cultural experiences and a huge passion for Cricket. The people of Sri Lanka are incredibly hospitable and throughout our tour I am sure everyone will get a real sense of how proud the country is to host tours such as ours".

Sam Dent and Lois Wright will be leading the Girls tour, consisting of a range of players from Uunder 16 to Under 18. Speaking of the tour himself, Sam said the following:

"Cricket is the heartbeat of the tour, and in many cases, is the heartbeat of Sri Lanka too. Whilst travelling around the country, we can expect to see hundreds of Sri Lanka cricket shirts, plenty of street cricket games and at some venues, we will likely draw a crowd of enthusiastic supporters. Cricket is very much embedded within Sri Lankan culture, which makes Sri Lanka the perfect place for our Wiltshire Cricket tour.

With several fixtures and training sessions lined up for the tour, the players have a great opportunity to explore different playing conditions, opposition playing styles and environmental challenges. Putting this all together creates an incredible playing experience, where players can learn, explore and enjoy the various cricket skills and opportunities. Ultimately, this is the reason for touring this amazing country and we hope that the players will head into the 2024 cricket season full of confidence, friendships and a continued love of the game".

For 2024, two boys teams will be touring Sri Lanka (current Under 15s and Under 16s). Tom Morton, supported by Brad Dawson, Ged Montgomery and Sam Dudley will lead the two boys teams. Tom himself is also looking forward to the opportunities the tour will provide:

"As we look ahead to a long English winter, the thought of another Wiltshire CCC tour to Sri Lanka fills me with excitement. The matches and experience visiting Sri Lanka is the perfect location to celebrate the boys & girls pathway journeys. The tours are an important element of the Wiltshire CCC pathway offering; their frequency is ahead of other counties, and we do this deliberately because of the positives we see in their cricketing development primarily but also their interpersonal skills and friendships gained through the experience.

The tour will present opportunities to challenge and develop their cricket, experience the beautiful sights of Sri Lanka, build great friendships, enjoy the company of the lovely Sri Lankan people, and give something back to those struggling through the Charity Pranav".

Pranav Foundation

On the subject of Pranav Foundation, one of the things that we are delighted to do as part of our partnership with Lions Sports Travel is support the charitable element of our tour. In advance of this February's tour we were overwhelmed by the amount of second hand kit and equipment that was donated by families and local cricket clubs for us to present to under privileged children, schools and communities whilst in Sri Lanka. Our charitable day will be a really special part of our and from all at Wiltshire Cricket we sincerely thank everyone for their generous donations.

Sponsorship - Clothing and Equipment

This year's tour has also seen us seek support from local sponsors to help us fund tour clothing, tour bags and a tour brochure for all players. We were again overwhelmed by the amount of sponsorship support that was forthcoming. In particular, we thank our clothing sponsors:

Boys Clothing Sponsors:

Hartsfield
Kerve
Gaiger
Wiltshire Queries

Girls Clothing Sponsors:

IPFGB
Renelec
IMSM
Chubb

Wiltshire Cricket Tour Brochure

We are delighted to have been able to produce our first ever tour brochure for this year's tour.

Supported by some amazing sponsors, our tour brochure contains previews of the tour from all of our coaches, player profiles for all of our players and some other additional information on our tour partners, Lions Sports Travel.

We thank everyone who helped to make the tour brochure possible

Wiltshire Cricket Tour to Sri Lanka 2024 - Tour Brochure