Latest news with #EnglandUnder-19
India.com
9 hours ago
- Sport
- India.com
Vaibhav Suryavanshi's blazing innings sets up India win after England legend's son scores fifty
In this collection of pictures we shall take a look at 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi's knock which sets up India win. Interestingly, England legend's son also smashed a half-century. India's Under-19 team has made a blazing start to the England tour. The Indian team has defeated host England by 6 wickets in the first Youth ODI. This match was supposed to be of 50 overs but India made it a T20 match. India won this match in just 24 overs i.e. with 156 balls remaining. Vaibhav Suryavanshi scored the most runs in India's victory. 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi scored 48 runs in just 19 balls. His innings included 5 sixes. India's Under-19 team is on a tour of England these days. The team that reached England under the captaincy of Ayush Mhatre has started the tour with a victory. The first Youth ODI was played between India and England on Friday. After winning the toss, the Indian bowlers bowled out England Under-19 for 174 runs. The England team could not even play the full 50 overs. The English batsmen were all out in just 42.2 overs. Andrew Flintoff's son Rocky scored the highest 56 runs for England. 17-year-old Rocky Flintoff hit 3 sixes and as many fours in his 90-ball innings. Opener Isaac Mohammad (42) was the second top scorer for the team. Kanishk Chauhan took the highest 3 wickets for India. Henil Patel, RS Ambris and Mohammad Inam took 2 wickets each. Chasing the target of 174 runs, the Indian innings was started by captain Ayush Mhatre and Vaibhav Suryavanshi. 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi showed the same game in this match as he had shown in the IPL recently. He opened his account with a four in the second ball of his innings and then never looked back. He hit a six on almost every fourth ball. As a result, by the time he was out after playing 19 balls, he had hit 5 sixes. Apart from this, Vaibhav Suryavanshi also hit 3 fours. His strike rate was more than 252. Vaibhav also hit three sixes in one over of Jack Home.
Telegraph
27-03-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
My team taking on the private schools is answer to English rugby's prayers
For rugby union to broaden its footprint and flourish, it will require creative thinking and fierce enthusiasm. Steve Hanley, the former Sale Sharks wing who plundered 75 Premiership tries, possesses those qualities in abundance. Three years ago, he and Joe Clark, an ex-Sharks colleague, established Trafford Schools; an invitational team in Manchester for boys who attend schools that do not have matches on a Saturday. Their sons, Jacob and Dylan, had failed entrance exams, denying them a chance to enrol somewhere they could immerse themselves in rugby union by training three times a week as well as playing weekend fixtures. For Hanley, the setback stirred uneasy memories. 'I'm sure there's a bit of hidden PTSD driving all this,' he explains with a chuckle. 'It will be ingrained in me from when I didn't get picked for England Under-16s and England Under-18s. 'I went to school up in Cumbria, Cockermouth School. I played for the North of England Under-19s when I was 16 – three years young – at the old divisional tournament at Castlecroft. But I missed out on the England Under-19 trial every year until I signed for Sale Sharks. 'Two weeks after signing that contract, I was in the England Under-19 team. Then, in the same season, I played for the Under-21s, the A team, the sevens and the first team, all within six months. When I made my England debut at 19, I remember Clive Woodward commissioning a report, asking: 'How have we missed this kid and how many more are there like him?'' Hanley sought out Telegraph Sport after reading last month's investigation into how rugby union may be affected by rising fees at independent schools. It is his view that 'if you have fewer lads coming through the system, you're going to have fewer coming out the top'. And he is also concerned about over-reliance on those establishments. 'I have no animosity whatsoever towards anyone who sends their kids to private school if they can,' Hanley adds. 'The big issue I see is that the schools do such a good job that the Rugby Football Union have perhaps let those schools be the main way to bring kids through. And if you're not in that system then you can get completely bypassed.' Last October, on the back of an independently chaired review that warned of how rugby union was in danger of becoming a 'declining minority sport' with the perception of being dominated by 'posh white boys', Hanley contacted the RFU. His sentiment was succinct: 'I believe I've got the answer to your prayers'. By then, Trafford Schools had developed into a feel-good success story. The Greater Manchester borough of Trafford houses both Sale Sharks, vying for Premiership glory again, and Sale FC, sitting seventh in National One. Bowdon and Altrincham Kersal are two more strong clubs. Yet Hanley and Clark estimate that only two of 14 comprehensive schools in the area – St Ambrose and Altrincham Grammar School for Boys – play regularly on Saturdays. 'You have Sale Grammar, Urmston Grammar, Stretford Grammar, Ashton on Mersey School and Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College,' Hanley says. 'None of them play on a Saturday anymore. They might do rugby in PE every now and again but that's it.' With their boys entering Year 7, while still enlisted in the 'fantastic' junior section of the Trafford MV club, catering for 400 to 500 kids, Hanley and Clark staged tournaments for non-rugby playing schools. They wondered about how a combined side would fare against illustrious opposition. Then they made it happen with the help of local hero Greg Hawkins, who was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2015 for tireless volunteer work in rugby union. Wearing their club shirts inside-out as makeshift uniforms, a Trafford Schools Year 7 line-up took on Altrincham Grammar. Since then, the initiative has 'grown and grown'. They play in kit kindly donated by Sale Sharks and the Sale Sharks Supporters Club has backed them to the tune of £2,500 per season, covering balls, bibs, cones and tracksuits. Perch Group is another generous sponsor. Parents have not yet needed to pay a penny. Trafford MV and Sale FC have been immensely generous with their facilities and training sessions are staged in Carrington on Wednesday nights to avoid clashes with local clubs. Matches against prestigious rivals are on Saturdays, which allows players to fulfil their football fix on Sundays, if so inclined. 'About 30 per cent of our lads play football on a Sunday,' says Hanley, whose son, Jacob, was on the books at Oldham Athletic. 'But I reckon we've picked up 15 or 20 lads who'd never played rugby at all. They've come to these schools tournaments we put on, usually with those white socks pulled up over their rugby socks, and they're rapid. Give them a couple of years' coaching on their skills and they can be brilliant at rugby.' Kicking and clinic with @HanleySteve11 — Trafford Schools Rugby (@traff_sch_rugby) June 27, 2024 Initially, fixtures were tricky to organise because of ties between traditional schools. Hanley and Clark offered up Trafford Schools as stand-ins in case of cancellations. They found they had several friends and acquaintances working in the sector and gradually built a fixture list. Trafford Schools are now represented by 10 different schools in the borough and have Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 teams. Jacob Hanley, Dylan Clark and Freddie Wigglesworth, a scrum-half like his father Richard who was this week named as an assistant coach for the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, represent the latter. Interestingly, Freddie attends St Bede's College, a fee-paying school that does not have a rugby union programme. He qualifies for Trafford Schools because of his affiliation to Bowdon RFC in the borough. Statement results this season have included a draw with Wirral Grammar and a narrow victory over Kirkham. Kirkham and Wirral are currently ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, among Under-14 A school sides in England according to the Schools Rugby website. 'I'm pretty confident that our Year 9s would give most teams a game,' suggests Hanley, who has ambitious plans. He has been gently lobbying for Trafford Schools to enter the national competitions like the Continental Tyres Cup and the Rosslyn Park Sevens, without a serious breakthrough so far. The 45-year-old also wants to set up another safety net, this one for players who drop out of the Sale Sharks set-up when the regional development player pathway is filtered down into a far smaller senior academy intake. This is a renowned pinch-point for participation because players may not cope with the disappointment and step away from the game entirely. Hanley states that a new entity for 15-18 year-olds called Trafford Rugby Academy could lean upon Sale FC as a vehicle to invigorate these youngsters and strengthen the community game at the same time. Already, Trafford Schools supports players that are too young to attend AASE [Achieving Academic and Sporting Excellence] c olleges. Hanley is realistic enough to concede that his connections have provided a leg-up – Alex Sanderson, the Sale Sharks director of rugby, is one of his best mates – but is game if the RFU is interested in rolling out similar initiatives around the country. 'Could these be set up by a Joe Bloggs without a recognisable name?' he asks. 'Maybe not, so they might need an ambassador.' Out of Jacob's exam disappointment, an exciting venture is gathering impetus. 'I wouldn't be involved in this if Jacob was somewhere like St Ambrose,' says Hanley. 'It's given us a kick up the a---, I suppose.' In turn, Hanley is booting his sport up the backside in the most constructive way.
