Harold Wood Cricket Club has hosted teams from California and Delhi over the past two weeks.

The club staged two different age group tournaments - for U13 and U15s - and the teams participating included MCC’s Lord's Youth team, California Cricket Academy, Delhi Bal Bhavan International School and Wood's own CricFit Sport (CFS) development squad.

CFS founder Ashish Baluja has been busy building links with other development squads from around the globe in recent years and said: “The tournament has been a long time coming. Covid and other issues have got in the way, so to get the event on and for it to be a success and played in fantastic spirit meant that all the planning was well worth it.”

CFS has also recently joined hands with the Lucknow Super Giants IPL franchise to provide further exposure to the players.

The tournament gave an opportunity for players to experience different conditions and to test themselves against new teams, with the team from Delhi Bal Bhavan International School triumphant in most events,

The team certainly experienced everything the English weather could throw at them, as they witnessed four seasons in a day during almost each match.

Bal Bhavan coaches also participated in an All Stars coaching programme sharing a positive different coaching style.

Harold Wood club chairman Tom Clarke added: “The tournaments played and the standard of cricket on show was fantastic, it will have really pushed the skills and experience for all the players further. Really looking forward to see the improvements that the youngsters show in the coming years.”