Coaches’ Association / NDCC U15 Boys tour to India – April 2025
The Coaches’ Association’s overseas junior cricket tours continued, with another tour to India from 9 – 21 April 2025, in partnership with Northern District CC. The touring party comprised 14 players, 3 coaches / officials, and 9 fathers (total 26 people). Two other fathers followed the tour by attending each match, travelling separately with their Indian extended families.
This was the Coaches’ Association’s sixth overseas cricket tour, after successful U/15 Boys tours to Sri Lanka (2015), Barbados (2017), India (2019 & 2023), and an U/17 Girls tour to India (2024).
Our U/15 Boys team entered the Indian Premier Academy League (IPAL) tournament in Delhi, playing seven matches, winning four and narrowly losing three matches, including two T20s in the last over.
The tour management team included Bruce Wood OAM, who has now managed eight overseas cricket tours (five to India). We were fortunate to have two outstanding young coaches, Josh Miller and Connor Hindmarch, who passed on their cricket knowledge and expertise to the 14 players.
Our team finished third in the IPAL U/15 tournament, and won the Fair Play Award for its excellent sportsmanship, respect for umpires and opponents, etc. Our captain, Alish Hirani, led his team well and showed class with the bat. Arjun Singh won the U/15 Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, and Oliver Makin performed strongly as an all-rounder.
We were delighted to see the way our team committed themselves to the tough cricket conditions, as they took on the strong opposition teams. All the matches were live-streamed on YouTube, and live-scored via the CricHeroes app, which was fantastic.
Our touring party enjoyed some amazing cultural / sightseeing activities on non-match days, including a visit to the Taj Mahal, an exciting IPL match (Tie – Super Over), and a tour of Old Delhi. These outings gave our players a taste of some aspects of Indian culture and lifestyle, especially the rickshaws rides through the markets in Old Delhi. Our experienced Indian travel agent was Sohan Kadian from www.melshsportstours.com, who looked after us so well in 2019, 2023 & 2024.
Overall, this was another successful tour for the Coaches’ Association and Northern District CC. All our players improved significantly on tour and will no doubt increase their confidence and skills as they move towards the 2025-26 cricket season in Sydney. They all appreciated the opportunity to play cricket in different conditions and learn from their coaches and the skillful Indian players. It was pleasing that each player on tour contributed well to the team performance and had at least one match in which they played a major role with the bat, ball or wicket-keeping gloves.
Special thanks to the fathers on tour, who bonded well and supported the players and coaches on the journey. A big thanks also to Mehul Parikh (parent) for his wonderful photography on tour.
We endeavoured to provide a quality cricket and cultural experience in India, and we are confident that these objectives were achieved, with one parent describing the tour as ‘life-changing’ for all concerned.
