Oscar Jago-Lewis (Eagle – 2022)

I was lucky enough to receive backing from the OJs and I decided to travel out to Sydney, Australia to play cricket for UTS North Sydney cricket club. Having departed from Heathrow Airport on the 18th of September, once I arrived in Sydney I was given the bad news my bags were left in Dubai! After a very expensive taxi, I arrived in Ultimate Apartments in Bondi and I was lucky enough to have a few days to recover from jet lag before my cricket bag arrived.

Once my bag arrived, I was straight into the cricket with my club training on Tuesdays and Thursdays before the International Cricket Programme started on the 10th of October. However. before that I was able to get some sightseeing in with some fellow Hurst old boys, Aidan Drew (Eagle – 2022) and Paddy Norton-Smith (Star – 2022). We went straight down to Bondi beach the day that we arrived as it was only a 5-minute walk and had a lovely day out in the city, seeing the Sydney Opera house and the Harbour Bridge. We also saw the beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens. Once the cricket was up and running, I had slightly less free time because I was training Monday to Friday and playing for my club on Saturdays in grade cricket or Sundays in Poidevin-Gray.

My club, the North Sydney Bears, had an amazing ground and it was a spectacular place to play. The course lasted 10 weeks until Christmas and during this time I felt that I really improved my cricket as well as my fitness and strength. We had a batting skills session on a Monday, where I was able to improve my skills, and gym on a Tuesday along with club training in the afternoon. Having the club training also helped me to continue to work on my skills. On a Wednesday we had the bat vs ball session where I really thought my game developed as I was facing top quality bowlers and receiving great feedback from the coaches. Thursdays was a more laid-back session where we had fitness and running sessions followed by club training in the afternoon. Thankfully Friday was very relaxed, it was our rest day along with an optional training session!

When the programme finished after Christmas, I was able to explore the Blue Mountains and visited the stunning, but cold, Wentworth Falls. Aidan, Paddy and I ventured down to Geelong, one hour South of Melbourne, which was an amazing experience as we were able to play golf with kangaroos which was a dream come true.

Editor's note: Oscar gave a fine performance at Old Cranleighans' Cricket week last year (see page 115/7 of our magazine),