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Aussies lift spirits at Hatcliffe Extension

Hundreds of school children were given a crash course in batting, bowling and catching by Australia's T20 stars

Australia’s T20 cricketers ventured 20 kilometres north of Harare to take cricket to some of Zimbabwe’s underprivileged youth.

Located in the Hatcliffe Extension lies a makeshift school were hundreds of children are educated free of charge; some orphaned and all living below the poverty line.

But as volunteers work feverishly to get the children’s reading and writing skills up, there is another avenue being used to maintain education rates among the children - cricket.



Operators of the school have been engaged by a charity called "Grassroots Cricket", who provide sporting lessons in the hope that they remain in the education system.

As part of Cricket Australia’s charity initiative Cricket Cares, Australia’s players ran clinics for more than two hours, also getting a look at the small classrooms where up to 60 children are taught.

"It’s incredibly humbling, the simplicity of the way these guys live in some really tough circumstances," Australia head coach Justin Langer said.

"But to see the smiles on their faces, to see their love of cricket has been a brilliant opportunity and we’ve loved every minute of it."

Image Id: C3D3A9DBCD8D4310B1142B233455E67C Image Caption: "We've loved every minute of it," said Langer // cricket.com.au

Australia allrounder Marcus Stoinis ran bowling drills before playing soccer with children on the adjacent dirt field in between rocks and with ageing goal posts.

"Just to come out here and have the opportunity to do this sort of stuff, and until you do it you don’t realise how fortunate you are," Stoinis said.

"It puts things in perspective, and how happy these kids are, beautiful young kids just enjoying themselves.

"There’s not many supplies or anything but they’re still happy."

Image Id: 1682B9F96BAC4058823F10133B167ABB Image Caption: Alex Carey and his teammates recruited some new Aussie fans // cricket.com.au

The children, aged 3-15, were particular taken with big-hitting duo Glenn Maxwell and Aaron Finch, Maxwell teaching them the lap-sweep and slog while Finch played British Bulldog with hundreds of the younger kids.

"Maxi had them all lined up, playing the sweep, the reverse sweep, switch-hit, lap, a hit over the head for six, in 10years’ time there’s going to be some bloody good cricketers," Stoinis said.

Image Id: 82511B23B8CF49568070495A3C8BE976 Image Caption: Maxwell teaching the children some of his unique shots // cricket.com.au

Maxwell, a veteran of Cricket Cares programs in Zimbabwe, South Africa, India and Sri Lanka, explained just how important visits were to these communities in need of help.

"I know how much it means to these kids for us to come out here and just provide a little bit of joy," Maxwell said.

"Hopefully it can motivate even a small percentage of them to stay in education and maybe even enjoy some cricket as well."

Australia face Pakistan today before their final group stage match with Zimbabwe, ahead of Sunday’s final, once again against Pakistan after both team’s qualified.

Qantas Tour of Zimbabwe

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Travis Head, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D'Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Jack Wildermuth

Pakistan squad: Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Haris Sohail, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Amir, Usman Khan Shinwari, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sahibzada Farhan.

Zimbabwe squad: Hamilton Masakadza (c), Cephas Zhuwao, Chamu Chibhabha, Brian Chari, Tarisai Musakanda, Malcolm Waller, PJ Moor, Tendai Chisoro, Kyle Jarvis, Brandon Mavuta, Blessing Muzarabani, Chris Mpofu, Ryan Burl, Solomon Mire, Wellington Masakadza, Elton Chigumbura, Ryan Murray

July 1: Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by 74 runs

July 2: Australia beat Pakistan by 9 wickets

July 3: Australia beat Zimbabwe by 100 runs

July 4: Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by 7 wickets

July 5: Pakistan vs Australia

July 6: Australia vs Zimbabwe

July 8: Final