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BY HERNEMAN

THE GAME

CL UB

Cape Town boundSocial club opening the 2015 campaign with 10-day jauntthe hawks Cricket Club, a nomadic social cricket club based in the Wharfedale Valley, Yorkshire, are undertaking the most ambitious tour in the club’s history at the start of their 77th year .A playing party of 17 are o� to South Africa for 10 nights from February 19 through to March 2. Three fi xtures have been confi rmed against Groot Drakenstein CC, Green Point CC and The Spin Doctors CC.The tour party includes many experienced Hawks cricketers including seven who have league cricket backgrounds and they will be up against opposition of similar standard.O� the pitch the Hawks intend to enjoy the surrounding areas, including Table Mountain, Robben Island, the Winelands and Metropolitan Golf Club, as well as making use of the local hostelries.The Hawks, formed in 1938, can currently boast a membership of 198, and have toured many times before to venues as diverse as Estonia, London, Dublin, North Wales, Torquay, Oakham, Wilmslow and Chichester to name but a few.

Passage to IndiaMILLFIELDMillfi eld School have just come back from their fi rst ever trip to India which saw both cricket and hockey 1st XIs and their under-15 cricket team enjoy a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Forty-four students, along with parents and coaches including director of sport David Faulkner and master in charge of cricket Richard Ellison, embarked on the 12-day tour which was based in the northern city of Delhi.

All three sides pitted their wits against Delhi and Punjab’s fi nest young district and academy players before taking in some of India’s most beautiful landmarks.

The number of wickets taken by Adam Shantry – for Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Glamorgan – in fi rst-class cricket. Shantry, who retired in 2011, has been appointed as head coach at Birmingham League club Shrewsbury.

Both cricket teams did extremely well in the dusty, humid conditions with the 1st XI excelling, winning four of their six matches including a victory over Khalsa College at the Gandhi International stadium in Amritsar.

Their other two games were nerve-jangling affairs with one being a tie and the other a last-ball defeat to a team full of the region’s most promising academy players.

The under-15s could also be proud of their efforts, winning their opening two games comfortably before a step up in class saw them suffer defeats in their fi nal four games.

Charlie Hannan, a pupil in year 10, said: “The people we played were so interesting and we learnt how to play and adapt to different situations. The team learnt how to support each other playing in the heat, and look after each other as a team.”

They also ventured to many of India’s biggest tourist attractions such as the Taj Mahal, India Gate in Delhi, the Golden Temple at Amritsar and the India/Pakistan border before a trip to a bat-making factory in Jalandhar.

The school is keen to maintain its connections with India having taught Indian boys ever since the school’s inception in 1935 when the founder, Jack Meyer, brought seven boys back with him from his teaching spell in the country.David Sillifant

New friends: The cricketers from Millfi eld School pose with some

of their Indian opposition

The number of wickets taken by Adam Shantry – for Northamptonshire,Warwickshire and Glamorgan – in fi rst-class cricket. Shantry, who retired in 2011, has been appointed as head coach at Birmingham League club Shrewsbury.