Riddell Cricket Club’s Mackenzie Casson is enjoying a trip of a lifetime as he and 11 other young Victorian indigenous cricketers take part in the KP24 Foundation’s inaugural 24/7 project.
The project involves cricketers aged 15 to 18 enjoying the opportunity to train under former England international Kevin Pietersen, attend international matches, meet high-profile players and represent Australia in the project’s T20 world cup in Dubai.
Over 10 days, teams from India, England, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South Africa and Australia will meet at the Kevin Pietersen Cricket Academy for an intensive high-performance training program including skill development, coaching education, media training, nutrition and recovery.
Casson, who arrived in Dubai last week with other group members, said the trip had been great so far.
“We’ve had a good mix of cricket skills and also sightseeing,” he said from Dubai. “We saw the world’s largest building, the Burj Khalifa, which is 840 metres high.
“The next few days will be exciting as we are going through a fitness challenge and we are off to watch England play Pakistan in a T20 tonight. Then we start our own T20-specific training under lights in Sharjah.”
The Sunbury resident got involved in the program at his dad’s suggestion.
“I went to a training session that dad had told me about and then I kept going back to more training sessions,” he said.
“When the Dubai opportunity came up, I just wanted to be part of the program and get the opportunity to be involved.”
The Salesian College student, who has been playing cricket for four years, said he hoped the improvement of his cricket would continue when he returned to Australia.
“I would like to play premier cricket for Greenvale,” he said.
Pietersen said through Cricket Victoria his academy was about giving something back to cricket.
“Throughout my career I’ve been so fortunate to travel all around the world and meet so many amazing people, so it was always my ultimate ambition to put something on which gave something back to these places,” Pietersen said.
“Wherever I’ve travelled, whether it be with England or playing franchise cricket, kids have always come to our training and joined in whenever they could. It’s forever been a regret of mine that our limited time in these areas meant I couldn’t repay them with the amount of time and attention they deserve.
“The event will see boys leave their countries, most for the first time, and hopefully pick up the skills and confidence needed to improve their everyday life.”
