Several visiting teams from Stamford School, Lincolnshire, England will be taking part in a friendly cricket tour of Sri Lanka have arrived in the country and will be here till April 9. The 55-member contingent will be accompanied with their coaches, including former England International cricketer, Dean Headley who is also a cricket professional at Stamford School. The group will be touring the island for a five match series in Kandy and the venues would be international cricketing grounds such as the Asgiriya Stadium and the Pallekele Stadium. The rest of the tour will see the touring teams play at P Sara Oval, De Zoysa Cricket Stadium, BRC, St. Thomas’ College, St. Joseph’s College and Thurstan College grounds.
Dean Hadley, cricket professional at Stamford School stated “The boys are really excited about visiting Sri Lanka as well as the staff, this experience of playing cricket in the subcontinent will always remain with them for the rest of their lives. We are always keen to tour places of different cultures that can offer all-round experiences for the English youth”.
Lions Sports Travel, the specialist sports travel arm of Barefoot Traveler, in collaboration with Stamford School have organised the tour, which will see the teams based initially in Mount Lavinia, before spending two nights each in Kandy and Negombo coupling the tour with education and insights into Sri Lankan History.
The group will visit the Temple of the Tooth Relic and the famous Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage. The Sports Unit of Aitken Spence Travels (Pvt) Ltd who have handled many tours of this nature in the past is handling the logistics for this tour.
A total of 25 competitively friendly games have been arranged with the assistance of Sri Lanka Cricket against some of Sri Lanka’s leading local school and club teams. The tourists will also participate in a charity drive donating cricket gear to underprivileged young cricketers through the Mahela Jayawardena Foundation.
Lions Sports Travel, Chief Executive Dipan Suwarneraj said, “Our school cricket tours are a great opportunity for students participating from both countries to mix and learn from each other whilst enjoying the fellowship that comes from playing cricket in a competitively friendly setting.”
Source : http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=sports/aitken-spence-facilitates-stamford-school-cricket-tour-sri-lanka