Pre-Season Milan Tour

With the memories of falling snow still fresh in the minds we descended the 1600 vertical meters from snowy Zuoz to the sunshine of Milan and Lodi for the first cricket tour of the 2012 summer. As is typical for our early season tours, we selected a youthful development squad and the focus was set firmly on enjoying the experience while absorbing as much cricketing knowledge as possible. With that in mind it was great to see the team gelling together and helping each other out both on and off the field.

Our first game on Saturday against Milan took place in near perfect conditions with blue skies and 26 degrees proving to be a welcome change from the snow locked locale of Zuoz. Bowling first, the Lyceum attack contained the Milan batsmen with some tight bowling and committed fielding. It was great to see our team working hard on the basics and saving vital runs with energetic backing up of throws and aggressive fielding. Through this committed effort the Lyceum was able to restrict Milan CC to a relatively low total of 103 from their 30 overs.

In reply, the Lyceum got off to a bad start, losing two batsmen for ducks in the second over. Luckily, our new cricket assistant and ex-student Henry was in place and his steady batting together with our students helped us build the total. However it wasn't until he was joined at the crease by our big hitting gamesmaster Mr Jones that we really cemented our position. With the help of a couple of big sixes we closed in on the target and claimed victory in the 28th over. We must also make mention of the team from the Milan CC who played in great spirit throughout and were very generous hosts.

Saturday evening provided our team with the chance to enjoy the commeraderie provided on sports tours as we enjoyed dinner at a local pizzeria and exploring the beautiful village of Lodi.

On Sunday we awoke to rainy and windy conditions, but thankfully just as we were contemplating heading home the skies cleared and the stage was set for a quickfire Twenty20 match. Again we bowled first but this time the experience of the Lodi batsmen really showed and they raced to a commendable 127 from their 20 overs. Special mention must be made of Nuri who impressed again with his bowling and picked up 4 wickets.

In reply our batsmen got off to a steady start, but maintaining the required run rate was always going to be difficult against such experienced opposition. Once again Henry batted well to notch up a 50 before being run out in unfortunate circumstances. With this the Lyceum was left requiring a formidable 10 runs an over from the last 5. Thanks to some big hitting from Mr Harding in combination with sharp running between the wickets we closed in on the target and reached the last ball needing 3 runs to win or 2 to tie. Unfortunately we came up just half a meter short of completing the second run and therefore lost by an agonising 1 run. A thrilling end to the match and despite the disappointing result all of our students learnt a lot from such a close fought match.

All in all it was a very successful start to the summer and we are looking forward to carrying forward the momentum to the Junior Festival that will be hosted in Zuoz on May 26th - 28th!