Callum Jackson flies off to Indian Cricket Camp

Whilst the rest of the School shivers in the lowest temperatures for some years, Knights Lower Sixth former Callum Jackson is escaping the cold for the more benign climate of Pune, India.

As a member of the England Cricket Board’s England Development programme he will attend a 20-day competitive training camp between 4th and 24th of February. The team will play seven matches in Pune and one in Mumbai during the tour, and Callum is likely to be captain for a number of them. When not enjoying the average daily temperatures of 12C to 32C, and the ten hours a day of sunshine, he might have to take refuge from the 3mm of rain which is likely to fall over February. He will also have to keep up with his studies and complete the work he has been given.

The whole England squad have been raising money for two community projects in Pune. They will visit an orphanage and a primary school to coach cricket with the children. They will leave cricket equipment and books with them and donate money that they have raised. Callum undertook a sponsored 10km run, in full cricket batting kit, (helmet ,pads, bat etc) and with the help of a variety of sponsors and the School Housemasters has raised a total of £480 as his contribution to these worthy causes.

Callum will also be writing a Blog as the camp progresses: Here is his report on the first day

DAY 1

Not the ideal start to a cricket tour I must say! Delayed at Heathrow for 3 hours due to adverse weather conditions, snow....typical ! Four hours before we were due to depart for India it snows for the first time this winter. Still, I would have taken the steaming 29 degrees of India for the -8 of Sussex any day.

From the moment we step outside of the airport; nuts! That is the only word that comes to mind. The smells, the humidity, the colours! Everything amplified to an almost intolerable level, but at the same time fascinating.
One of the first things I see is a family of four - Mum, Dad and two toddlers all squeezed onto a moped, with of course no helmets or proper safety equipment!
Every single piece of open space we come across is full, literally full, of people playing cricket! Mostly not with bats or balls but playing with whatever they can get their hands on, in some cases sticks and rocks.

Despite the dust, dirt and poverty I find myself in awe of this place. There seems to be something going on all the time, it’s busy like I have never seen before! So busy, so colourful, so manic it is almost impossible for me to comprehend. There seems to be certain lawlessness. I think the best way to describe my first impression of India is controlled chaos!

Arrived at 7pm into our hotel and training starts 8am tomorrow morning!

This training camp is 3 weeks long and I will try to update this blog every 4 or 5 days.

Callum Jackson