Fabian Cowdrey and academy scholars visit India
Friday 13th February 2015
Kent head coach Jimmy Adams has taken all-rounder Fabian Cowdrey and three academy scholars to India on a ten-day tour of Andhra Pradesh in India to hone their skills.
The party was invited by the Andhra Cricket Association to use the state's facilities and work with local youngsters as they step up preparations for the 2015 season.
Teenagers Zak Crawley, Marcus O’Riordan and Ben Stock join 22-year-old Cowdrey in Visakhapatnam, the state’s largest city on the east coast of the cricket-mad nation.
Here’s the first instalment of Fabian Cowdrey’s tour diary…
We arrived at the Hotel Novotel Varun Beach shattered, having survived some incredible local driving before helping ourselves to an unbelievable Indian buffet.
It was obvious which members of the Kent touring party could handle the excess herbs and spices, particularly when Zak Crawley ordered fish and chips! It was soon after we retreated to our first night of five star luxury…
After waking up to another astonishing array of food and VIP treatment, we started the day with a light jog on the running machines to get the flight out of our legs burn off the naan bread and mouth-watering curry that was weighing us down.
We then got our first chance to witness the amazing Infinity pool that overlooked the underused Indian Ocean.
Crawley and Stock looked severely pale and in need of sun and O'Riordan's Irish heritage will no doubt catch up with him if he continues to take the Indian sun for granted.
We arrived at the brilliant ACA-VCDA cricket stadium, a ground used for IPL matches.
The ground was pristine and we were offered a middle practice with the enthusiastic Andhra academy lads and after a number of photos we got on with our training.
Their academy had a wide array of different types of bowling, yet one thing they shared was a passion and a deep enthusiasm for the game that I felt only Asia could create.
The day ended with fielding and we returned after a long day in the middle through the madness to our hotel, and yet again proceeded to the dining hall for more curry.
See Fabian Cowdrey in action this summer with a Kent Cricket Membership.
Tickets to Kent v Australiaon June 25-28, the first game of the Ashes Tour, are free for all Kent All Rounder and Championship Plus Members and an option for Six Pack package holders.
Members can also buy up to six guest tickets before the fixture goes on general sale next month.