A group of students from Japan tried their hand at a sport most of them had never seen before – cricket.
The students were at Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools as part of a long-standing exchange programme with the Seifu and Seifu Nankai schools of Osaka.
They had the perfect teacher in Sixth Form student, Sophia, who helped England to the final of the women’s ICC Under-19 T20 World Cup in South Africa earlier this year.
Sophia is studying for her A levels as she works towards her dream of representing the England women’s team.
She has signed a contract with Western Storm, the professional women’s team that represents South-West England and Wales, for this summer.
The teenager put the Japanese students through their paces as she coached them bowling and batting skills, before arranging a match between two teams.
The two-week bi-annual exchange programme with the Seifu and Seifu Nankai schools of Osaka has been running for more than 30 years; and has led to some very strong friendships.
During their time in Monmouth, the Japanese students toured the schools, took part in cooking, kayaking, art, design technology and spent time at Monmouth Prep School. This year’s programme also featured trips to Oxford, Raglan Castle, The Big Pit mining museum, Alton Towers and Bristol.