UNSW’s Twenty20 student cricket team, which includes three sets of brothers, will head to London this week to represent Australia at the Red Bull World Campus Cricket Challenge.
UNSW’s Twenty20 student cricket team, which includes three sets of brothers, will head to London this week to represent Australia at the Red Bull World Campus Cricket Challenge.
The UNSW team will compete against the best university cricket teams from around the world including South Africa, Pakistan, England and current champions India.
The team gained a spot on the world stage after winning the Australian Campus Cricket Championships at the Australian University Games on the Gold Coast in September last year.
This will be the second time the team has played at an international level after also representing Australia at the 2013 World Campus Cricket Championships in Sri Lanka.
Co-captain Tom Rogers says he hopes the experience of playing in the World Championships in Sri Lanka will give the team an additional advantage this year.
“We learnt from last year that there are many ways to play the game of cricket, and paid the price, especially against the sub-continent teams,” Tom says.
“We've improved in many areas and look forward to facing these sides again in conditions that may suit us more than them,” he says.
The team is coached by former Australian fast-bowler and UNSW alumnus Geoff Lawson, and includes brothers Tom and Marcus Atallah, Charlie and Tom Wakim, and Brandon and Hayden Mclean.
Team manager Helen Bryson, who also co-ordinates UNSW’s Elite Athlete and Performers Program, says she hopes to see the team make the finals, which will be played at one of London’s most famous cricket grounds, ‘The Oval’, on Saturday, 26 July.
“The team contains several members who have been supported by the UNSW Elite Athlete and Performers program, enabling them to combine their studies with their sporting endeavours,” she says.
The Red Bull World Campus Cricket Challenge will take place from July 18-26. Watch interviews with UNSW’s Twenty20 team and follow their progress on the Red Bull website.
Read more about the UNSW Elite Athlete and Performers program.
Media contact: Leilah Schubert, UNSW Media Office, 02 9385 8107.