It’s not every day young cricketers can train with professionals but that was certainly the case for DC Sixers.
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On Friday, the 12-man squad of DC Sixers took part in a fielding session with Durham County after Sport360 National School League (NSL) Under-15 champions DPS Sharjah were unable to attend due to exam commitments.
Despite the week’s notice, the children showed so signs of buckling under the pressure, showcasing their fielding skills in front of cricketers including Paul Collingwood and England international Ben Stokes on the sidelines of the Emirates Airline T20 at Dubai’s Sevens Stadium.
After the one-hour session, DC Sixers’ cricketers spoke glowingly of the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”.
VIDEO @ECB_cricket/ @DurhamCricket all-rounder @benstokes38 puts @sport_dc through their paces http://t.co/2zSTdA5s1V pic.twitter.com/F3J9H2qP6X
— Sport360° (@Sport_360) March 21, 2015
“It was a really enjoyable experience for all of us as we did a lot of different drills that I hadn’t done,” said fast-bowler Yash Bhandari. “We were learning how to improve our fielding and their coaches spoke how important it is in cricket. As well just the basics of running and diving, the most important thing I learnt was to always catch with two hands and not one.”
Team-mate Pranav Nander echoed Bhandari’s sentiments.
“It was lots of fun,” said the 11-year-old opening batsman. “I really took away a lot from this session as I worked on my reflexes as well as learning that keeping your eye on the ball is crucial.”
Assisting the children was Stokes and the all-rounder was impressed by what he saw.
“The lads really enjoyed themselves which is great to see,” said the 23-year-old, who last represented England in the ODI tour to Sri Lanka last December.
“They are at that age where they’re really enjoying their cricket. Their skills are not too bad and they’ve been pretty good with the catching and fielding.”
DC Sixers coach Clint Berkenshaw, whose side reached the NSL quarter-finals, said the session was worthwhile.
“It was a great experience for the boys and I feel they learnt a lot just being around Durham and seeing how the professionals practice on the field,” he said.
“The boys will have goals and dreams that they want to achieve in the future and many want to go on to play at the highest level. This opportunity gave them an insight of what is required to play at the highest level and what professional cricketers do day in day out on a daily basis. Hopefully they got a lot of inspiration and we will try to put this into practice for next season.”
He added: “I just told them there’s no pressure and to enjoy it as this was once in a lifetime opportunity to learn as much as they can.”
