On the last day of Spring term the 1st XI squad escaped the snow of Bedford and headed for the 30 degree 
sunshine of Dubai to challenge for the pre-season trophy competed for by 8 schools from the UK, South Africa and the UAE.
The performance highlight of the tour was on the first day where we secured a last over win over the eventual winners, the MCC Abu Dhabi Academy, with skipper Vicram Sohal making 74 of our 244/5 from 40 overs.
Paddy McDuell held his nerve in the last over to bowl us to victory by 7 runs.
In the second match, under lights, we easily accounted for Cheltenham College by 100 runs, with excellent performances from Paddy McDuell, Tom Bradbeer, Charlie Clarke, Ben Slawinski and Vicram Sohal, scoring another half century.
On day 3 we gambled with an inexperienced side to enable us to play a full strength XI in the final, only to be undone by a brave and combative opposition to lose our only match of the tour and to qualify 2nd in our group on net run rate.
On finals day at ICC headquarters we played Clifton College for third place The match was decided by a 3rd wicket partnership of 147 between Tim Graham (101 off 82 balls) and Vicram Sohal (92 off 71) who propelled us to 311/5 from our 40 overs. Clifton were never in the hunt, and eventually fell 85 runs short.
In between games, the boys made use of the fantastic facilities on offer at the team hotel, as well as exploring the incredible water parks, the Burj Khalifa (world's tallest building) and experiencing some desert dune bashing as part of a desert safari.
As far as preparation for a tough 1st XI summer of cricket, you could not ask for better.
An excellent tour, with an outstanding group of lads.