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Ben Denton
Elite Cricket Academy, Napier, New Zealand
My name is Ben Denton, 18 yrs old, and I play for Wallingford Cricket Club (Oxford Cherwell League). Here is a little bit of information about my stay in Napier, New Zealand, where I trained at the Real Sport Experience Cricket Academy. Here's what a typical and not so typical day were like…
A Typical Day:
Usually we are up by 8 and go for a run. This consists of a 2km run followed by a sprint and press-up/sit-up session. We then go to swim in the ocean, which is unbelievably refreshing. At about 9.30 we partake in batting drills, which consist of throw downs, improving our foot movement and bowling machine sessions. Then it's not unusual for us to have a net until lunch, followed by another swim in the ocean. In our free afternoon time we can have a net session, do some fielding practice, have a game of football, got to the beach, go shopping or relax in the academy. Some nights we have club training, which is followed by a few beers with our teammates.
A Not so Typical Day - Training with England and New Zealand:
Just being present at the training sessions was amazing, let alone being able to bowl at some of my cricketing idols! Lining up to bowl alongside players such as Ryan Sidebottom, Daniel Vettori and Kevin Pietersen is a surreal experience that I will never forget.
I arrived at the session not expecting to bowl, as I'm an opening batsman and a part time bowler at best. However I was amazed when I found myself running up to bowl at players such as Daniel Vettori, Jacob Oram, Ross Taylor, Jessie Ryder, Jimmy Anderson and Phil Mustard. I was even more astounded when I manged to bowl Vettori round his legs with a leg stump yorker!
The attitude of the players towards us was amazing, as they seemed to accept us as valuable additions to their practice sessions; they also posed for pictures with us at the end of the sessions. This certainly was a once in a lifetime experience, although we had four sessions at the two teams!
I was also able to talk to Peter Moores (England Coach) about how to improve my game and to become a better cricketer. I will be eternally grateful to our coach for arranging these net sessions for us, as it makes this experience worth every penny! Not only have we been lucky enough to have this opportunity once, but also we will be repeating it in a month when we are joining the teams again when they prepare for the test match! |
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I truly love every minute of my stay here at the Cricket Academy and will urge any keen cricketer on a gap year to attend, it is an experience that will stay with me for a very long time!
 Further information on the Cricket Academy New Zealand
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